This book is a must-have for all students of American history and its political system. The first volume of this exceptional set was originally published in 1835, with the second volume being published in 1840, and it has remained in print ever since. President Woodrow Wilson wrote that Tocqueville's work was "possibly without rival." Lord Bryce wrote with high praise of "the elegance and refinement of Tocqueville's reasoning." And historian Edward Banfield wrote, "After 150 years there is hardly a page [of Tocqueville's work] that does not open the reader's eyes to the larger implications of some familiar fact." Abridged by Jay A. Parry, author of The Real George Washington, this edition includes both volumes in one book.