Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the greatest political scientists of all time. His Democracy in America (1835, 1840) and Ancien Regime (1856 ) are classics. Yet his work is not always easy to understand since it needs to be seen as a work which combines his essays, letters, travels and other materials. Through an examination of all of these we can see that Tocqueville, more than any other thinker, understood the deep roots of individualism, equality and fraternity and in doing so the origins of the modern world. His three-way comparison of France, England and America is unique and deeply illuminating.