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Thomas Paine - Craig Nelson

Description: ISBN 1861976380 /

Newest Review: ... and corrupting nature of organised religion The Age of Reason which has still a lot of relevance today, and sadly, probably ... more

... more now than 30 years ago. Craig Nelson's biography is titled Thomas Paine: His Life, His Time and the Birth of the Modern Nations and it certainly provides and excellent description of the times and momentous events that Paine was involved in. In fact, at many a time Paine was just one of the key figures in a rich account provided by Nelson. For my tastes Thomas Paine started with too much of 'social history' trivia, often with no relevance to the main ideas. For some unfathomable reason we get a detailed listing ...more

Read Reviews for Thomas Paine - Craig Nelson

Thomas Paine - Craig Nelson: Democratic Heritage to Reclaim Urgently (1078 words)
by - written on 11/02/07 (Very useful, 130 readings)
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Thomas Paine was one of the key political thinkers, writers and conversationalists of the Enlightenment. Credited with either formulating or certainly popularising the notion that the source of power lies in The People and that the government - any government - is only legitimate by the mandate of the population. Born in England a commoner, not very academically successful, trained as a staymaker and worked as excise officer (so did Rabbie Burns, what is it with the 18th century democrats and tax collection?); he soaked in the cafe culture of Enlightenment London but came to prominence after his arrival in America with nothing but a recommendation letter from Benjamin ... Read the complete review