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Thomas Paine's intellect and skill at persuasive writing should be studied far and wide. It's a shame we only read excerpts of "Common Sense" in school.
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...
Outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book.Read a great writing
A great compilation of works of someone who had a profound influence on the American Revolution. Common Sense was perhaps the catalyst to shift public opinion in favor of independence. Some of the other minor works are expectedly more trivial in nature. A little understanding, however, of his life will show that his popularity was much diminished by the time he wrote Age of Reason. In that work, he seems out of his element in trying to critique various elements of the Bible with an obvious defic...
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...
One of my group reads was reading "Common Sense" and I found I enjoyed how Thomas Paine wrote that I continued to read his other works in this one bind up. Common Sense ★★★Rights of Man ★★★The Crisis ★★★The Age of Reason ★★★★Letters/Articles ★★★★
The Age of Reason: Paine is a deep and clear thinking man who is also articulate. The Age of Reason is well worth reading, whether seeking inspiration because one agrees with his position, or as a stone on which to sharpen one's own edge if not. Because Paine is so thoughtful and also such a good communicator, it makes the omissions and fallacies in his work all that much more glaring.He declares, for instance, Christianity to be false because the Jews did not believe it. He omits the fact that
The prose may be a bit thick for our era, yet that should not stand in the way of great ideas. Paine's thought and content should still resonate today.
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.
I've been meaning to read some of these influential writings for some time. I finally read one of them and want to read some of the others now. These are fighting words indeed!
Thoroughly impressed with Paine's keen insight of disparate topics ranging from Great Britain, civil liberties, and religion. A contrarian of the highest order with a somewhat vicious attack against things that make no sense. Wonderful read for the period and to see what an impact one person can have on events.
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...
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...
Outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book. I had not read Paine since high school and like many, had forgotten the importance of his role in the American Revolution. His brave, dry, wit escaped me when I was younger and can be appreciated now. This volume in my opinion, is a fine collection of Paine's work, presented beautifully in a high quality book. If you would enjoy reading a solid, logical argument,(Paine is difficult to refute) or want to read one who poked fun at the enem...
With the world in such turmoil, this is a great collection that will take readers back to when all started for America. It addresses what the forefathers wanted in the new world they found themselves in and is almost exactly opposite of where America finds itself in this day and age of a President who doesn't understand and won't bother to read any of the books like this one that show why America was actually great at one time.
One of the foundational works of the establishment of the country, it should be mandatory reading. This particular volume is excellent for anyone trying to understand the dynamics of the time. The "Works" include Common Sense, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason, Paine's major works. But it also includes letters to many noteworthy founding fathers and allows a glimpse of the complexity of this patriot.
One of the most extraordinary works in political philosophy. Paine should be required reading in high school. Although his essay, "The Age of Reason", alienated Christians with its argument that the Bible is a fraudulent text, it is an argument that is difficult--if not impossible--to refute. Paine was no atheist; he was a deist and a firm believer in a Higher Authority. "The creation is the Bible of the deist," wrote Paine. "He there reads, in the hand writing of the Creator himself, the certai...
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
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
A historical resource that will make a rebel out of you. Freedom! Rights! Equality! Liberty or Death!!!