Alexis de Tocqueville has been extensively chronicled as a pioneer sociologist and political philosopher of democracy during the early nineteenth century. However, his writings on the problems of social and economic transitions to an industrial society have been largely overlooked. In this book, Seymour Drescher presents a thorough analysis of Tocqueville's concern for the lower classes of society, viewing his thoughts on slavery, poverty, criminality, and working class conditions, and their place in an evolving egalitarian society.

Seymour Drescher is professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including: Tocqueville and England; Tocqueville and Beaumont; and Econocide: British Slavery in the Era of Abolition.