Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography (Books That Changed the World) - Hardcover

Hitchens, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871139553 ISBN 13: 9780871139559

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007

Synopsis

Thomas Paine was one of the greatest advocates of freedom in history, and his Declaration of the Rights of Man, first published in 1791, is the key to his reputation. Inspired by his outrage at Edmund Burke’s attack on the French Revolution, Paine’s text is a passionate defense of man’s inalienable rights. Since its publication, Rights of Man has been celebrated, criticized, maligned, suppressed, and co-opted. But in Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, the polemicist and commentator Christopher Hitchens, at his characteristically incisive best,” marvels at its forethought and revels in its contentiousness (The Times, London). Hitchens is a political descendant of the great pamphleteer, a Tom Paine for our troubled times.” (The Independent, London) In this engaging account of Paine’s life and times [that is] well worth reading” he demonstrates how Paine’s book forms the philosophical cornerstone of the United States, and how, in a time when both rights and reason are under attack,” Thomas Paine’s life and writing will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.” (New Statesman)

About this title

About the Author:

Christopher Hitchens, a celebrated author and critic, is the author of Why Orwell Matters and Thomas Jefferson: Author of America.

From AudioFile:

Described as an attempt to marry the ideas of the American and the French Revolutions . . . and to disseminate these ideas in Britain, THE RIGHTS OF MAN is one of the most influential books of political philosophy of the late eighteenth century. Christopher Hitchens, long an admirer of Paines ideas and writings, looks at the context and content of this great work and its influence around the world. Simon Vance narrates with his usual dulcet tone, and his phlegmatic approach tends to smooth out Hitchenss inherent edginess. Those familiar with the way Hitchens speaks may find this book too tame for their taste, in spite of Vances fine narration. K.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0871139553
• ISBN 13: 9780871139559
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160