Book Reviews

Paine monument in Thetford, England, the birthplace of Paine, with a quill pen in his right hand and an inverted copy of The Rights of Man in his left, was sculpted by Sir Charles Wheeler, President of the Royal Academy, and erected in 1964 - link

BOOK REVIEW: A Political Biography Of Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2013 Number 1 Volume 12

Naturally this book invites comparison with previous biographical studies, in particular the most recent. It bears out well in relationship to them. What stands out in this new work is its detailed coverage of Paine’s career and his comprehensive treatment of the controversies and issues Paine addressed. 

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French Liberty

BOOK REVIEW: La Pensee Politique de Thomas Paine en Contexte: Theorie at Pratique

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2012 Number 2 Volume 11

This fundamental contribution to Paine’s political thought, based on a Ph. D thesis at the Sorbonne, deserves to be translated into English so that it becomes available to all Anglophones interested in the subject.

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book case

BOOK REVIEW: In God’s Shadow: Politics In The Hebrew Bible

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2012 Number 2 Volume 11

As humanity emerged from the long dark night of the Middle Ages, the ideas of religious and monarchical hegemony began to be challenged. Foremost among those doing this important work of demystification and enlightenment was Thomas Paine in his Rights of Man and The Age of Reason.

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Karl Marx in 1875

BOOK REVIEW: Bradlaugh Contra Marx, Radicalism And Socialism In The First International

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2011 Number 1 Volume 11

On the one hand there is Karl Marx, a Communist and political exile in London, on the other Charles Bradlaugh, who rose from humble origins to become the leading nineteenth century advocate of Secularism and a MP for Northampton. Both were political giants.

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america danger

BOOK REVIEW: Where The USA Went Wrong, A Study Of The United States Empire

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2011 Number 1 Volume 11

This study of political and social developments from the birth of the USA up until the Bush administration is a challenging and controversial being an evaluation of the nation’s history and how it went wrong and departed from the ideals of some of its founding fathers. 

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A sketch of a young Thomas Paine by Moncure Daniel Conway from "The Life of Thomas Paine" (New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1892), Chapter 2 Frontispiece - Courtesy of the Truth Seeker

Thomas Paine – A Collection of Unknown Writings

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2010 Number 2 Volume 10

By Kenneth. W. Burchell “This is no more than a say so of Jonathan Steadfast, who says it because it suits him to say it.” An Enemy to Monopolies and Inconsistencies [Thomas Paine], “Jonathan Steadfast and his Book” in the Mercury [Elisha Babcock], 27 September 1804.  “As censure is but awkwardly softened by apology, I

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“Cobbett at Coventry” a 1820 engraving by an unknown artist shows William Cobbett with Paine’s bones in a coffin on his back in the top left corner – American Philosophical Society

William Cobbett And Henry Hunt – The Extraordinary Story Of Their Thirty Year Radical Relationship 

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2010 Number 2 Volume 10

This is an account of the relationship between two men at a crucial time in history. It is set against the backdrop of the aftermath of the French revolution, the wars with France and the fear of a Jacobin-style revolution in England and the demands for reform.

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declaration of independence

BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Paine And America

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2009 Number 1 Volume 10

Those studying the reaction by Americans to Thomas Paine’s ideas, and, perhaps, to him as an individual, will find the judicious selection of works reprinted herein of immense value. Of course, there are works that one feels should have been included, but where does this process end, another six volumes?

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world love

BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Paine: In Search Of The Common Good

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2009 Number 4 Volume 9

I will make no attempt to comment on any of the contributions, to fully appreciate them, it is sufficient to say they contain much that is of value and it’s good that they have been now been put into print thanks to Dr. Chumbley, a TPS member, who transcribed them. 

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vote protest

BOOK REVIEW: 142 Strand, A Radical Address In Victorian London

Thomas Paine Society UK, TPUK 2008 Number 2 Volume 9

This is not a book about Thomas Paine, in fact in the course of its three hundred and eighty-six pages he receives only a single passing mention, which leaves aside whether or not its central character, the publisher and doctor John Chapman, read Paine’s works.

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