Library of America Paperback Classics series

Presents the original text of Alexis de Tocqueville's study of the United States, written in 1831 when the democracy was still young, encompassing the history, geography, politics, legal system, economy, and culture of America, and addressing issues such as a free press and racism that are still pertinent in the twentieth century.

"First published anonymously in 1912, James Weldon Johnson's extraordinary first book narrates the inner struggle of a gifted, light-skinned black man living on the razor's edge of the color line in Jim Crow America. The novel's pioneering realism led many early readers to take it for an actual memoir and to challenge its veracity and authorship. Republished in 1927 under Johnson's name, the book became a major inspiration for the Harlem Renaissance and one of the landmark classics of African American literature."--.

Based partly on the author's observations of American political and social conditions during a visit in 1831-1832.

Contains forty-seven notable political speeches from throughout the history of the United States, from Patrick Henry's 1775 address before the Virginia Convention, to Barack Obama's 2008 meditation on race.