Tocqueville examines the structures, institution and operation of democracy, and analyzes the lessons that Europe could learn from American successes and failures. It continues to be an influential text on both sides of the Atlantic, especially in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe.

Alexis de Tocqueville's influential 19th century political treatise, published by Wordsworth in place of the previously scheduled "Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon.