In this chapter, Aurelian Craiutu documents key elements of Tocqueville’s political thought that are either anticipated or shared by the so-called Generation of 1820. Like Tocqueville, this cohort came of age in France during the time of the Bourbon Restoration. It included figures such as Théodore Jouffroy, Charles de Rémusat, Félicité Robert de Lamennais, and others who struggled like Tocqueville to make sense of the dawning tide of democratic equality. Their writings also reckon with problems of individualism, skepticism, and the loss of authority that all regarded as characteristic of the democratic age. Most importantly, however, Craiutu suggests in this chapter that many of Tocqueville’s insights – including his interest in the United States – may be explained by the influence of his kinsman François-René de Chateaubriand, whose earlier visit to America and subsequent writings shared much with Tocqueville’s vision.

“Chapter 1 describes how, during the initial decades of the twentieth century, the Spanish chemical community experienced considerable growth and developed an ambitious plan of modernisation. Cosmopolitanism and the connection to a European network of chemical expertise became crucial targets for the academic and political authorities during the final decades of the Bourbon Restoration and the Primo de Rivera dictatorship. This dream of modernity materialised on several fronts: reforms in chemical training, new internationally orientated research schools, fellowships and exchange programmes and major projects to link academic chemistry to industry.Many chemists shared the liberal values of the JAE, but others, from more conservative positions, also used chemistry to strengthen their professional ambitions creating strong alliances with industry. Despite the social tensions of the 1910s and 1920s, chemical “modernity” basically meant the fight against “backwardness” through cosmopolitan research projects, and an ambitious renewal of the material culture of chemistry in terms of instruments, reagents and laboratories”