"Poor Tom Paine! There he lies; nobody laughs and nobody cries; where he has gone or how he fares; nobody knows and nobody cares." This 19th-century street ditty captures the obscurity of America's least known Founding Father. The author of Common Sense and other influential pamphlets helped spark the American Revolution and the upheaval in France, but earned no lasting fame. Indeed, history buff Theodore Roosevelt dismissed Paine (1737-1809) as "a dirty little atheist," and John Adams cast him off as "a disastrous meteor." Craig Nelson's major biography brings Paine alive in a new way. As Joseph J. Ellis noted, "This is the first book to recover him in his own electrical style...with all the flaws and foibles flaming away amidst the greatness."
John Adams told Thomas Jefferson that "history is to ascribe the American Revolution to Thomas Paine." Thomas Edison called him "the equal of Washington in making American liberty possible." He was a founder of both the United States and the French Revolution. He invented the phrase, "The United States of America." He rose from abject poverty in working-class England to the highest levels of the era's intellectual elite. And yet, by the end of his life, Thomas Paine was almost universally reviled. He had run afoul of Washington, broke with Robespierre and narrowly escaped the guillotine, and was all but exiled from his native England.
"1110858335"
Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations
John Adams told Thomas Jefferson that "history is to ascribe the American Revolution to Thomas Paine." Thomas Edison called him "the equal of Washington in making American liberty possible." He was a founder of both the United States and the French Revolution. He invented the phrase, "The United States of America." He rose from abject poverty in working-class England to the highest levels of the era's intellectual elite. And yet, by the end of his life, Thomas Paine was almost universally reviled. He had run afoul of Washington, broke with Robespierre and narrowly escaped the guillotine, and was all but exiled from his native England.
24.99
In Stock
5
1
![Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.10.4)
Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations
![Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.10.4)
Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Or Pay
$23.49
$24.99
24.99
In Stock
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940171254988 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
Publication date: | 03/11/2011 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Videos
![](/static/img/products/pdp/default_vid_image.gif)
From the B&N Reads Blog