Tocqueville's Democracy in America

Recently, I've been trying to fill out some of my knowledge on thinkers who are "primary sources" for MBM. Alexis de Tocqueville's book Democracy in America is one of the references in The Science of Success. I've had the pleasure to read parts of it, but haven't read the entire thing. While preparing for a reading discussion on Tocqueville's "Interest Rightly Understood" (a portion of Democracy in America), I started looking for a clip that could better explain a little about the author and put the reading in context.

I stumbled across a lecture series by a Yale professor. I've been watching as much as I can because he does a fantastic job of putting it in context (as far as I can tell). It's a bit dry, but not too bad as far as lectures go.

What thinkers would you like to learn more about? If you flip through the references in The Science of Success, what names/sources would you be interested in understanding better?

Comments

[Tammy Carroll]

Two come to mind:

1. Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors".

2. Thomas Sowell (anything, really) "Knowledge and Decisions".

[David McGinnis]

Bastiat

I personally haven't had any discussions about Bastiat or his books.

I wouldn't be willing to say that his influence has been missed, but I certainly wouldn't be able to speak intelligently about Bastiat.

The names i hear more often are: Von Mises, Hayek, Maslow, Sowell, even Gardner...

I think i'd add Polanyi to the "desired-explicit-subjects of conversations-to-be-had" list

[Andy Gillette]

Quite the ambitious list, Dave. Especially that last one. Good luck! They're all rewarding.

[David McGinnis]

Your comments have encouraged me to be more clear. Those names I hear often are not the ones for which I am requesting discussion. I think those are discussed at a reasonable frequency.

Bastiat and Polanyi are the 2 names that I want to hear more about.

Thanks for the comment!, without it I wouldn't have known how that was perceived.

[Ann zerkle]

I love Bastiat's work. I've put that on my list of future topics to post about.

[Paul Mueller]

Here is a letter to the editor about Tocqueville that Don Boudreax wrote and posted on Cafe Hayek:

http://cafehayek.com/2010/09/prescient-tocqueville.html

You might find it interesting.