The Thomas Paine Reader

Thomas Paine

Penguin Publishing Group, Dec 1, 1987 - Literary Collections - 544 pages

This major collection demonstrates the extent to which Thomas Paine was an inspiration to the Americans in their struggle for independence, a passionate supporter of the French Revolution and perhaps the outstanding English radical writer of his age. It contains all of Paine's major works including Rights of Man, his groundbreaking defence of the revolutionary cause in France; Common Sense, which won thousands over to the side of the American rebels; and the first part of The Age of Reason, a ferocious attack on Christianity. The shorter pieces—on capital punishment, social reform and the abolition of slavery—also confirm the great versatility and power of this master of democratic prose.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Sovranty - LibraryThing

It seems odd that any of what Thomas Paine wrote needed to be said, that in today's climate we take it all as being obvious. This is a great foundational book for the history of American government.

User Review -

I'm in the process of reading Common Sense and there is no doubt as to why Thomas Paine is seen as one of the great American thinkers. He had an aptitude to frame big issues facing Americans at the time in a way that appealed to the senses and an equivocal manner in which he could relate his ideas to people.  

About the author

Thomas Paine (1737-1802) was born at Thetford, Norfolk in England, as a son of a Quaker. He immigrated to America in 1774. There he published works criticising the slavery and supporting American independence. He became very popular but returned to England where he became involved in the French Revolution. After that he returned to America, where he died. 

Isaac Kramnick is a professor of Government at Cornell University and has edited of The Federalist Papers and The Thomas Paine Reader.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Thomas Paine Reader; Classics Series; Penguin classics; Penguin classics: Literature
• Author: Thomas Paine
• Contributors: Michael Foot, Isaac Kramnick
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 1987
• ISBN: 0140444963, 9780140444964
• Length: 544 pages
• Subjects: History / United States / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800); Literary Collections / Essays; Political Science / History & Theory