title: Tocqueville: The Ancien Rgime and the French Revolution (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
author: Jon Elster
description: This new translation of an undisputed classic aims to be both accurate and readable. Readers will appreciate The Ancien Rgime and the French Revolution for its sense of irony as well as tragedy, for its deep insights into political psychology, and for its impassioned defense of liberty.
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  The Ancien Regime
  
  
    
    
  Preface  
    
  LECTURE I--CASTE  
    
  LECTURE II--CENTRALISATION  
    
  LECTURE III--THE EXPLOSIVE FORCES
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  # The Ancien Regime
  
  
  ### Charles Kingsley
  
  
  
  
  
  ### PREFACE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The rules of the Royal Institution forbid (and wisely) religious or
  
  
  political controversy. It was therefore impossible for me in these
  
  
  Lectures, to say much which had to be said, in drawing a just and
  
  
  complete picture of the Ancien Regime in France. The passages
  
  
  inserted between brackets, which bear on religious matters, were
  
  
  accordingly not spoken at the Royal Institution.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  But more. It was impossible for me in these Lectures, to bring
  
  
  forward as fully as I could have wished, the contrast between the
  
  
  continental nations and England, whether now, or during the
  
  
  eighteenth century. But that contrast c