Alexis de Tocqueville

McLuhan writes that Alexis de Toqcueville was "the first to master the grammar of print and typography." He was a highly literate aristocrat, yet while the rest of the aristocrats were unaware of typography's effects, de Tocqueville was able to stand aside from them and understand them.

De Toqueville was able to predict significant events in France and the United States because he understood how they resulted from print. He also understood that the same effects did not apply in England.