Democracy in America: And Two Essays on America

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French sociologist and historian. He was active in law and politics, serving for a time as foreign minister and wrote L'Ancien Régime, a social and political study of pre-revolutionary France.

Isaac Kramnick is professor of government at Cornell and edited several volumes in the Penguin Classics, including The Federalist Papers.