Common Sense

by Paine, Thomas; Kramnick, Isaac

• ISBN13: 9780140390162
• ISBN10: 0140390162
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1982-11-18
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

...well orated by reader George Vafiadis. The language and sentiment are not as outmoded as some listeners might expect and it definitely feels patriotic to hear again the fundamentals of America's beginnings." -- Kliatt MagazineGeorge Washington wrote, "I find that Common Sense is working a powerful change there (Virginia) in the minds of many men." The passion of the patriot Thomas Paine comes straight on and one can better understand the forces that shaped this country.

Table of Contents

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION	7	(50)
Background to the American Revolution, 1776	7	(18)
From staymaker to revolutionary: The life and career of Tom Paine	25	(12)
The argument of Common Sense	37	(9)
Bourgeois radicalism -- the ideology of Tom Paine	46	(9)
Paine and the American bicentennial	55	(2)
NOTES TO EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION	57	(2)
A NOTE ON THE TEXT	59	(1)
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING	60	(1)
COMMON SENSE	61	(52)
Introduction	63	(2)
Of the Origin and Design of Government in General	65	(6)
Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession	71	(10)
Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs	81	(19)
Of the present Ability of America, with some misellaneous Reflexions	100	(13)
Appendix	113
To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called Quakers	122