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Trailer: Tocqueville Road Trip

June 24, 2026 · 3 min

Show notes

When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America from France in 1831 he saw a new kind of society. Not just a country, but an idea that would change the world. His book “Democracy in America” was a big influence on later generations of writers and thinkers, including The Economist’s US Editor John Prideaux. Now, 250 years after its birth, the vitality of that democracy is under question. In this series, John retraces the route Tocqueville took to find out how much of what inspired Tocqueville about America remains—and how worried we should be about what’s changed.


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Find the show on The Economist app | On Spotify | On other apps

On Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/tocqueville-road-trip-from-the-economist/id1896918330


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