Thomas Paine
Books by Thomas Paine
Rights of Man
by Thomas Paine
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine was, literally, a revolutionary book.
“This book excoriates the idea that any religious book was written by God. They were all written by man, and while many of them have excellent principles, they are principles that any man can discern through his own reason. You don’t have to have all these supernatural events. He specifically mentions the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible and the Koran – the big three. These sacred books were written by man, and they can only be understood in terms of the period of history in which they were written. That’s all The Age of Reason is about, but it lost Paine all his positive fame. He was one of the most famous people in America because of his writing, which galvanized the colonists during the Revolutionary War. He lost all of that as a result of writing The Age of Reason, and he does die alone. No church cemetery will allow him to be buried there.” Read more...
Susan Jacoby, Journalist
“It’s an extraordinary and brave book, written by a man who was born in England and adopted America as his homeland, so I relate to him in that way. It’s just an incredibly clear account of what was wrong with British colonialism and why Americans should throw it off. It’s a brilliant political argument and a model of inspiring political writing – eloquent but also concise. It’s about freedom. It’s about how to throw off the shackles of repression.” Read more...
The best books on The Leaderless Revolution
Carne Ross, Political Commentator
Interviews where books by Thomas Paine were recommended
The best books on The Leaderless Revolution, recommended by Carne Ross
Our political and economic systems are inadequate and failing. But what can we do? The author of a new book on the subject tells us what inspired his involvement in the Occupy movement and how a leaderless revolution could work
The best books on Atheism, recommended by Susan Jacoby
The main reason for the survival of religion is not a desire to live a better life, but our fear of death, says atheist author and independent scholar Susan Jacoby. Here she recommends five books she considers essential to “understanding the merits of atheism.”
