As their journey progressed, although their creature comforts didn’t improve (one of the steamers they took on the Ohio river struck a reef and sank), Tocqueville’s admiration for America grew and on his return to France he resolved to write a book about the most important feature which he felt distinguished America: democracy. His book appeared in two editions, the first in 1835, which concentrated on politics, and a second, in 1840, which added his thoughts and observations on what we would call the sociological effects of democracy.
