Our collection of articles, records and reviews with book reviews related to Thomas Paine.
historian Yannick Bosc wrote, “Behind the smoke from the censer, there are always sulfurous fumes floating around Thomas Paine.” 200 years of historiographical inquiry still leaves us with too many questions. We can only look forward to the new, impartial, unbiased, and well-researched works that are yet to come.
Historians are challenged to remain ambivalent when writing about multi-layered Paine. We have Paine the political strategist, the enlightened idealist and utopian, the religious heretic, the economist, the journalist, the inventor, and humanitarian. Paine was vilified, idolized and all in between.
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.
BOOK REVIEW: A Political Biography Of Thomas Paine Read Post »
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.
BOOK REVIEW: La Pensee Politique de Thomas Paine en Contexte: Theorie at Pratique Read Post »
Visiting cathedrals, ministers and churches are notable aspects of modern pilgrimages, which we call tourism. I think walking into a centuries old country church gives one a feeling for history and the past in a very human way; it has nothing to do with religious observance/
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.
BOOK REVIEW: In God’s Shadow: Politics In The Hebrew Bible Read Post »
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.
BOOK REVIEW: Bradlaugh Contra Marx, Radicalism And Socialism In The First International Read Post »
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.
BOOK REVIEW: Where The USA Went Wrong, A Study Of The United States Empire Read Post »
Plato wanted poetry banned in his republic. Like many totalitarian reactionaries he saw poetry as essentially subversive. This book shows the relationship between poetry and three generations of a family which if not subversive were at the very least politically radical.
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
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?
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.
BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Paine: In Search Of The Common Good Read Post »
