Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution. In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in western societies. He also coauthored The U.S. Penitentiary System and Its Application in France with Gustave de Beaumont and penned Recollections, which was published after his death.