Common Sense and Other Writings: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Paine, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393978702 ISBN 13: 9780393978704

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011

Synopsis

Thomas Paine often declared himself a citizen of the world. This Norton Critical Edition presents Paine and his writing within the transatlantic and global context of the revolutionary ideas and actions of his time.

Thomas Paine’s loyalties were with universal and self-evident principles rather than with a particular group or nation, and it is this dimension that informed his most important works. This Norton Critical Edition shows how Paine’s fury at the British Empire, including its injustices to South Asians and Africans, shaped his first best seller, Common Sense, and how his direct involvement with the French Revolution pushed his ideas toward a unique form of democratic radicalism. Together with his rejection of organized religion, Paine’s radicalism resulted in his being one of the most hated men in both monarchial Britain and republican America.

This volume includes J. M. Opal’s introduction, “Thomas Paine and the Revolutionary Enlightenment, 1770s–90s,” which provides essential biographical and historical details across three tumultuous decades. Paine’s most important works―from Common Sense (1776) through Agrarian Justice (1796)―are reprinted and are accompanied by explanatory annotations.

Supporting materials include a wide range of documents from the turbulent years following the publication of both Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence. These include Pennsylvania’s gradual emancipation statute of the 1780s, an ex-slave’s impassioned call for revolutionary violence against European imperialists and masters, and a British conservative’s witty rejoinder to Paine’s vision of a brave new world.

Four major interpretations of Paine’s work are provided by Nathan R. Perl-Rosenthal, Robert A. Ferguson, Gary Kates, and Gregory Claeys.

A Selected Bibliography is also included.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Includes the complete texts of "Common Sense; Rights of Man, Part the Second; The Age of Reason (part one); "Four Letters on Interesting Subjects, published anonymously and just discovered to be Paine's work; and "Letter to the Abbe Raynal, Paine's first examination of world events; as well as selections from "The American Crises
In 1776, America was a hotbed of enlightenment and revolution. Thomas Paine not only spurred his fellow Americans to action but soon came to symbolize the spirit of the Revolution. His elegantly persuasive pieces spoke to the hearts and minds of those fighting for freedom. He was later outlawed in Britain, jailed in France, and finally labeled an atheist upon his return to America.

From the Back Cover:

“No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style; in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple unassuming language.” —Thomas Jefferson

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0393978702
• ISBN 13: 9780393978704
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Opal J. M.