Back to the basics

A young man is reading at the terrace of a café place de la Nation in Paris, on a sunny Saturday of October 2007. Well, and then what? will you ask. There's nothing to write home about.

But wait; let's have a closer look at the book he's reading.

Now, which title do we read?

"De la démocratie en Amérique" by a certain Alexis de Tocqueville.

Please, will you notice that the young reader is holding a ball-pen which means he's studying the text, underlying what he thinks is worth memorizing etc.

I won't go in the "only in Paris" line (you could witness the same scene in Lyon, Bordeaux, or any other important French city) but at least our American friends can't accuse the French of ignorance when it comes to America and the classics of literature. Of course, not all young French read Tocqueville but this man at the terrace of the café is far from being an exception.

On average, are young Americans as aware of this classical text regarding their own country as the young Frenchman we see on this picture?