Professor Daniel Gordon edited and contributed an introduction and two chapters, to The Anthem Companion to Alexis de Tocqueville (Anthem Press).
The Anthem Companion to Alexis de Tocqueville contains original interpretations of Tocqueville's major writings on democracy and revolution as well as his lesser-known writings on colonies, prisons and minorities. The introduction by Gordon discusses how Tocqueville was canonized during the Cold War and the need to reassess the place of Tocqueville's voice in the conversation of post-Marxist social theory after 1989. Each chapter that follows compares Tocqueville's ideas on a given subject (prisons, race, religion, etc.) with those of other social theorists who are influential today. Andrew Dausch, also faculty member in the UMass History department, contributed to this collective work with the chapter “Tocqueville And Lévi-strauss: Democratic Revolution att Bookends of Empire.”
This comprehensive volume is based on the idea that Tocqueville was not merely a founder or precursor whose ideas have been fully absorbed into modern social science. The broad questions that Tocqueville raised, his comparative vision, and his unique vocabulary and style offer the potential for deeper thinking in the social sciences today. See the full details about the book on the Anthem Press website.