The Crisis - Softcover

Paine, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014600101X ISBN 13: 9780146001017

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1995

Synopsis

In the winter of 1776, the American War of Independence, which had been declared only a few months before, was in trouble. British troops had quickly advanced through New York and New Jersey to crush the rebellion, and the Continental army was in retreat and on the verge of disintegration. At the end of that year, on December 23, Thomas Paine, who had previously inspired the revolutionary cause with his stirring pamphlet Common Sense, published the first of a new series of essays aptly titled The Crisis.Paine had a gift for memorable phrasing and the first words of The Crisis soon became"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too 'tis dearness only that gives every thing its value."General Washington found the writing so uplifting that later, during the bleak winter of 1777 at Valley Forge, he ordered Paine's essay to be read by all the troops.Paine continued his writing through the duration of the war with eloquent appeals for justice addressed to British leaders and citizens, and uplifting words to bolster the patriots in their fight for independence.A document that provides many insights into the hardships and precarious uncertainties that threatened the birth of our nation, The Crisis belongs on every American's bookshelf.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England, in 1737, the son of a staymaker. He had little schooling and worked at a number of jobs, including tax collector, a position he lost for agitating for an increase in excisemen���s pay. Persuaded by Benjamin Franklin, he emigrated to America in 1774. In 1776 he began his American Crisis series of thirteen pamphlets, and also published the incalculably influential Common Sense, which established Paine not only as a truly revolutionary thinker, but as the American Revolution���s fiercest political theorist. In 1787 Paine returned to Europe, where he became involved in revolutionary politics. In England his books were burned by the public hangman. Escaping to France, Paine took part in drafting the French constitution and voted against the king���s execution. He was imprisoned for a year and narrowly missed execution himself. In 1802 he returned to America and lived in New York State, poor, ill and largely despised for his extremism and so-called atheism (he was in fact a deist). Thomas Paine died in 1809. His body was exhumed by William Cobbett, and the remains were taken to England for a memorial burial. Unfortunately, the remains were subsequently lost.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 014600101X
• ISBN 13: 9780146001017
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96