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Collected Writings: Common Sense/The Crisis/Rights of Man/The Age of Reason/Pamphlets/Articles & Letters (Library of America #76)
“I know not whether any man in the world,” wrote John Adams in 1805, “has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine.” The impassioned democratic voice of the Age of Revolution, Paine wrote for his mass audience with vigor, clarity, and “common sense.” This Library of America volume is the first major new edition of his work i...more
cloth, 906 pages
Published
March 1st 1995
by Library of America
(first published January 1st 1925)
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I read Rights of Man in my first year as an undergraduate, and most of the others at a later date. Paine's writing both benefits and suffers from the fact that he drank huge quantities of brandy before putting quill to paper. He is scarcely a great philosopher, but an old libertarian socialist like me would be hard put not to love him. He nearly brought democracy to England a hundred or more years before it actually arrived. The great appeal of Rights of Man came from arguing (and apparently pro...more
I picked this up from the library because I have been wanting to read The Age of Reason. It gets 5 stars just for Paines brilliant dismantling of Christianity and the Bible. I don't see how even the most foaming at the mouth Christian could read Age of Reason and not consider the Bible at best a horribly flawed and contradictory historical document.
You'd also have to give this 5 stars for his other well known and not so well known writings in this, even though some of them are quite boring to b...more
You'd also have to give this 5 stars for his other well known and not so well known writings in this, even though some of them are quite boring to b...more
Of the writings in this volume, I read Common Sense and The Crisis long ago (long enough to have forgotten they were assigned or voluntary reads), and have yet to read The Rights of Man, or the additional ephemera. That leaves the Age of Reason for me to address here - it alone earns this collection five stars. Essentially a rational defense of Deism against institutionalized religion, it is also a brilliant critique of the hypocrisy inherent in staking any “evidence” of faith on the written wor...more
Even the personal letters were interesting - much smaller and easier to read than Thomas Jefferson's collected writings by the same publishers.
Common Sense sounded like it was describing the modern American Congress rather than the colonial British Parliament. Ironic. Same old shit, different day.
The Age of Reason was an excellent critique of the Bible and Judaism/Christianity, but its defense of Deism was a bit lackluster - I wonder if Paine and Jefferson would've given up Deism if they lived a...more
Common Sense sounded like it was describing the modern American Congress rather than the colonial British Parliament. Ironic. Same old shit, different day.
The Age of Reason was an excellent critique of the Bible and Judaism/Christianity, but its defense of Deism was a bit lackluster - I wonder if Paine and Jefferson would've given up Deism if they lived a...more
I haven’t delved deeply into Thomas Paine’s writings. I mainly purchased this for The American Crisis and The Age of Reason. But I’m a fan of the publisher. Library of America puts together visually appealing, well-edited compilations. I doubt they are always the best editions, but they are consistently good. I also own three of their Willa Cather volumes and one of Mark Twain.
As far as Thomas Paine goes, he is a lesser known (and lesser liked) founding father. Among his faults are not getting...more
As far as Thomas Paine goes, he is a lesser known (and lesser liked) founding father. Among his faults are not getting...more
Read this book with an open mind and Paine just might surprise you. My perception of what the man Thomas Paine was about changed drastically (and for the better). I gained a huge respect for him; he is far too good a man to be left to the likes of Glenn Beck. I put him in a similar place as someone like Orwell: an eloquent defender of justice, dedicated to seeing the world how it is, and honest enough to defend his ideas, even when doing so was damaging to his career prospects and personal relat...more
Aug 24, 2011
Robert
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone
Recommended to Robert by:
Christopher Hitchens
Shelves:
should-be-reading
Had to take it back to the library as I was starting Age Of Reason due to the SF fire project. Just great so far except I do not accept even deism personally. But his idea of deism does not admit any role for religion in public political life or the administration of a state. He rejects all the man-made earthly church establishments (and that is ALL of them, as the are all MAN-MADE) of all the world's religions. He believes in a supreme being and hopes for a life beyond this one. No specifics on...more
Reading Thomas Paine has become more important in this era of nationalistic fervor, bipartisan politics, and sophistic rhetoric. Paine cuts through this. An important fact about Thomas Paine, would be that he was thrown out of his own country for being patriotic, rather than nationalistic.
This edition presents Paine's writing thoroughly. With so much of his writing, and the nature of the texts, so much in one edition sometimes seems overwhelming. But, it is good to remember that one can put the...more
This edition presents Paine's writing thoroughly. With so much of his writing, and the nature of the texts, so much in one edition sometimes seems overwhelming. But, it is good to remember that one can put the...more
a must read. while some of the social issues Mr. Paine talked about are fairy outdated now, the rest of his writings are a must read. the level of common sense and scientific inquiry exhibited in his writings pave a path for all free thinkers and intellectuals of all ages and places to follow.
A firey spirit whos works flames the passions of the American REvolution. A true patriot with an undying quest for freedom. His spirit writings still excite my blood. A true America hero.
Sep 23, 2010
Craig J.
added it
"Thomas Paine : Collected Writings : Common Sense / The Crisis / Rights of Man / The Age of Reason / Pamphlets, Articles, and Letters (Library of America) by Thomas Paine (1995)"
Some good, some mediocre, some unexpected philosophy
Makes up with brilliance for what he lacks in modesty and maturity.
I just reread almost all of Paine. Fantastic.
Common Sense is a great place to start.
Excellent collection. The Age of Reason is an amazing piece of writing!
Common Sense 04/01/2000 to 04/03/2000
Articles and Letters...brilliant!
excellent book
If you want to know the intent of our founding fathers, read what they had to say! Thomas Paine's writings are an important part of what they thought and said at the time. Government was not meant to be small, nor were social programs and obligations excluded from the Constitution. The proper care of the elderly and orphans were specifically talked about in Paine's works. So were payments to those who were not land owners and a social security like program.
If you are an American, you need to read this critical work. If you are not an American, you need to read this critical work. One of the finest pieces of political prose ever conceived is captured by Paine in less than 100 pages.
The language was difficult for me but his ideologies and concepts set a precedent at the time and they are a valuable lesson in history. It's been so long I need to read it again.
Washington's sword was nothing without Paine's pen. Paine was a true Apostle of Freedom. He spent his whole life fighting for freedom and against tyranny. This is a great collection of his writings.
for historical american figures, Thomas Paine (and his work) is in the top 3 of all time- next to John Wesley Powell and a third that is yet to be determined
The antidote for all those who think America was founded exclusively by Christians. This should be required reading in all U.S. schools.
I psychotically love Thomas Paine's ideas and writing style. Also, he's not that terrible-looking for a colonist.
This is the first source that made me think I wanted to study early American history.
If you're a U.S. citizen and you know how to read, this is required reading.
Read Common Sense and Rights of Man. Yet to read Age of Reason.
I needed a reminder of what America used to mean.
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Thomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, revolutionary, radical, inventor, intellectual and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was born in England and lived and worked there until age 37, when he emigrated to the British American colonies, in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely-read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), ad...more
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Oct 27, 2012 12:55pm
Very many great men drank too much, from Si...more
Oct 28, 2012 06:18am