Not Tocqueville
Posted by Peter W. Schramm
Martha Bayles makes clear, with style, that Bernard-Henri Levy is no Tocqueville. His book may be "the intellectual equivalent of a soufflé (a thin batter of ideas puffed up to unnatural size)." It only tastes good be when "compared with the anti-American junk food recently topping the French bestseller list." Only the review is worth reading, not the book.
10:18 PM / April 10, 2006
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Tocqueville and Bayles in the same sentence! My mouth waters...author of the best book on America/democracy, and author of the best book on rock and roll (titled Hole in Our Soul, FYI)together! Actually, the review’s all about monsieur BHL’s boring-sounding book and isn’t that earth-shattering, although it does feature Bayles getting pissy about her Huguenot ancestors having to flee La France after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre! I think there’s a link there to her brilliant James Brown essay though.
Yes, the link is there--bottom of first page. Titled "Troubled Soul."