Democracy in America by Alexis DeTocqueville and Roughing it by Mark Twain - Book Report/Review Example

He then thought that these ideals were enshrined in American Constitution, which set down the fundamental principles that all aspects of American society (even outside of the governmental sphere), such as Tyranny of the Majority, Individualism, and Materialism. He also looks into the future of the America, outlining its growing industrial base and changing racial and population dynamics. This book has many positive aspects, as one would expect from such a well renowned work. One of the most impressive aspects of this work (which highlights de Toqueville’s impressive analytical skills) is his ability to predict future events of the world and of America.

For instance, one of the most famous aspects of this book is the fact that de Toqueville predicted that the two preeminent powers in the world would be Russia and America, because they both had a truly gigantic amount of human abilities, land for agricultural production and quickly industrializing economies. This turned out to be extraordinarily true – it predicted the coming of the twentieth century with the United States and the Soviet Union (with Russia at its heart). Furthermore, he predicts that one of the biggest problems for America in the coming decades will be racial conflict, because of the treatment of the large African American population in America.

This predicts the Civil War that would happen in America only a few short decades after de Toqueville wrote his book. While these predictions are incredibly impressive, they also pose a few problems for de Toqueville. One of the problems with many of his predictions is that they do not necessarily follow through with events. For instance, de Toqueville’s famous pronouncement that America and Russia would be the two superpowers in the coming centuries, the historical path that these countries followed did not necessarily follow from de Toqueville’s logic.

For instance, de Toqueville could not have predicted World War II, which was the conflict that truly brought American and Russia to the forefront through the wholesale destruction of Europe. Furthermore, de Toqueville’s logic on the chain between the founding of America by puritans to through the continental constitution through to current American values does not connect logically necessarily. Alex de Toqueville’s Democracy in America is an amazing book that should be read by anyone who is interested in American history.

It has some issues, such as dry and sometimes pendantic language (which can be aggravated by the translation) but all the same is a worthwhile book. Not every aspect of this book is necessarily genius, but it is all interesting. Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, and Mark Twain. Roughin It. New York: New American Library, 1962. Introduction, illustration, map, 607 pages. Roughing it is a semi-autobiographical novel by the legendary American writer Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens). Its main structure is that of a travel narrative, with Twain describing the wonders of the wild west on journey across America by stage coach with his brother.

It deals with a wide variety of times in Twain`s life, opening describing including his time as a confederate militia man in the Confederate cavalry, before going on to describe his journey across America during the end of the Civil War and into its aftermath. There are many things to recommend this book to a potential reader. Probably the