Thomas Paine

The Political Writings of Thomas Paine

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

"These are the times that try men's souls." Thomas Paine, The Crisis Throughout most of Paine's life, his writings inspired passion, but also brought him great criticism. He communicated the ideas of the Revolution to common farmers as easily as to intellectuals, creating prose that stirred the hearts of the fledgling United States. Paine had a grand vision for society: he was staunchly anti-slavery, and he was one of the first to advocate a world peace organisation and social security for the poor and elderly. But his radical views on religion would destroy his success, and at the end of his life, only a handful of people would attend his funeral. The revolutionary writer Thomas Paine played a very important role in shaping the modern world. His works have influenced countless people across the globe, and politicians all across the political spectrum cite him to lend credence to their policies. Despite all of this, Paine has often been, by some, misunderstood, ignored, or dismissed. Misunderstanding generally comes from only looking at one piece of his writings while overlooking the rest. This is sometimes the case with politicians who wish to see something of themselves in Paine, and, as such, engage in selective reading. Those who ignore his writings often do so purposely. There have been those who see them as too radical and dangerous, and therefore to be avoided. Those who dismiss him tend to be scholars of a more elitist variety. They view him as being improperly educated. All of this is unfortunate because there is much to be learned from Paine.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Seitenzahl: 448
• Erscheinungstermin: März 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 127mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 481g
• ISBN-13: 9781781070642
• ISBN-10: 1781070644
• Artikelnr.: 58219245

Autorenporträt

Thomas "Tom" Paine (February 9, 1737 - June 8, 1809) was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He has been called "a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination." Born in Thetford, in the English county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America's independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776-1783), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. His writing of "Common Sense" was so influential that John Adams reportedly said, "Without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense, ' the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain." In 1789 Paine visited France, and lived there for much of the following decade. He was deeply involved in the early stages of the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part-defence of the French Revolution against its critics, in particular the British statesman Edmund Burke. In Great Britain, for this publication he was later tried and convicted in absentia for the crime of seditious libel. Despite not speaking French, he was elected to the French National Convention in 1792. The Girondists regarded him as an ally, so, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December of 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason, his book that advocates deism, promotes reason and freethinking, argues against institutionalised religion and Christian doctrines. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice ( 1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. Paine remained in France during the early Napoleonic era, but condemned Napoleon's dictatorship, calling him "the completest charlatan that ever existed". In 1802, at President Jefferson's invitation, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809.