Cathay paine biography books

Within this context, Paine argues that revolution is acceptable when the rights of men are not respected or defended by their governments. As a result of his arguments in favor of revolution and social welfare, Thomas Paine was tried and convicted of seditious libel against the Crown of England, and sentenced, in absentia, to hanging. Resident in France at the time of his British trial, Paine never returned to England.

Brooksy Society. Essential Books on Thomas Paine There are countless books on Thomas Paine, and it comes with good reason, he was the English political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary that authored Common Sense and The American Crisistwo of the most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution. Kaye Paine was one of the most remarkable political writers of the modern world and the greatest radical of a radical age.

Infamous Scribblers by Eric Burns Infamous Scribblers is a perceptive and witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press. The Church of Saint Thomas Paine by Leigh Eric Schmidt In this gem among books on Thomas Paine, Leigh Eric Schmidt tells the surprising story of how freethinking liberals in nineteenth-century America promoted a secular religion of humanity centered on the deistic revolutionary Thomas Paine and how their descendants eventually became embroiled in the culture wars of the late twentieth century.

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine The Age of Reason is an influential work by Thomas Paine that follows in the tradition of eighteenth-century British deism, and challenges institutionalized religion and the legitimacy of the Bible. Hitchens covers Paine's life from his early days working as an excise man in England before moving to America where he made influential friends and enemies and where he lit the fire that caused the Americans to overthrow their colonial power.

Moving to France, Paine became influential in their revolution too, although he almost fell victim to The Terror of Robespierre's police.

Cathay paine biography books: Thomas Paine ( - ). A

A careless gaoler marked his door with the sign that the occupant was to be executed, but luckily for Paine the door was open at the time, and so the mark appeared on the inside where no one could see it. Paine survived and was released and ensured his safety by staying with the American ambassador to France, a certain James Monroe, later to become 5th President of the USA.

Paine moved back to America and suggested to then President Thomas Jefferson that he purchase Louisiana, which of course is what happened a few years later, although Paine was hoping that the land would be worked by hard-working and thrifty German immigrants plus black families from other states who could purchase their own land there. Unfortunately, the sugar industry interests triumphed and slavery was introduced here too, meaning there were more slave states than free states, making a future civil war almost certain.

The best chapter is on Paine's 'Age of Reason', where Hitchens clearly takes great pleasure in recounting Paine: [Hitchens] He also cannot decide whether the supposed preachings of the Nazarene are admirable or not. In general, he follows the custom of most deists in rating the sermons and maxims as moral and 'amiable'. Yet he cannot conceal his contempt for the most central tenet of Christianity, which is the morally hideous concept of scapegoating or 'vicarious atonement': [Paine] If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself and pay it for me.

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But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case is changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even if the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is to destroy the principle of its existence, which is the thing itself. It is no longer justice. It is indiscriminate revenge. Author 25 books 7 followers.

One of Hitchens' most earnest and least pompous works. His style at times can be irritating and prohibitive, as though needing to flash his intelligence so distinctly as though to belabor its presence. Many times, my response is to silently admonish him and say, "Quit showing off and say what you mean. His prose was clear, intelligent, and unadorned with unnecessary verbiage.

This is either a testament to his profound respect for Paine, or an editor took one hell of a scythe to his usual style. But I'm guessing he felt the need to be earnest and even perhaps idolizes Paine enough so that Paine's words are not outshone. Instead the real sense of Paine's character, intellect, and no-nonsense sensibilities are profound, indicating truly why his work was so influential in Enlightenment thought.

You can tell, too, that Hitchens is proud that like him, the man who is clearly one of his greatest heroes was born in England but was distinctly an American by the end of his life, enough to fight for the soul of the new republic, much like Hitchens did in his own life, and for his adopted country, the United States, two hundred years later. This is a good introduction to Thomas Paine and his works.

It's main strength is the explication of the war of criticism waged between Paine and his conservative British Tory rival, Edmund Burke. Burke was a Monarchist who while possessing sympathy for the American Revolution was appalled by the French one. He is the perfect foil against which to expatiate upon Paine's modern sense of the common man's inalienable rights.

Paine's Common Sense and Age of Reason are also summarized and their literary-historical status delineated. Paine's overview of biblical inconsistencies in the latter work must have been especially fun for Hitchens--that staunch atheist--to discuss at length. Highly recommended. I will be generous and assume that Hitchens was not responsible for the laughable decision to put Hitchens's Sears Photo Department portrait on the cover of a book about another, far more famous man's book.

It really is generous of me, though, because none of the other volumes in the series to which this book belongs Atlantic Books' "Books that Shook the World" follow the pattern: for some reason Harvard cathay paine biography books Janet Browne is not staring out from the cover of the Darwin book, for example. Apparently Thomas Paine was the man.

This one is a little more straightforward and easier to read than the Jefferson book by Hitchens. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. He admired enterprise and distrusted government, and often wrote of economic inequalities as if they were natural or inevitable. Much as he may have welcomed the end of the rotten alliance between the pulpit and throne, he was dismayed by the violent rush towards godlessness.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. In a time when both rights and reason are under several kinds of open and covert attack, the life and writing of Thomas Paine will always be part of the arsenal on which we shall need to depend.

Informative, witty summary of Paine's life and thought; the author obviously cares a great deal about the subjects he discusses. You learn a lot in a short book.

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A decent introduction to Thomas Paine vs. Robert Burke whose "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil Or books. Common Sense and the Crisis are much intertwined here. Hitchens, as usual is always readable. Although I learned a bit or were reminded of things I had forgottenespecially about the dispute between Burke and Paine, ultimately I had the feeling that this work was tossed off by an expert wordsmith without much research.

But its a short cathay paine biography books, so I don't hold it against him too much. I followed Hitchens for his athiests content. But so obsessed am I that I read this historical biography just to hear more of his words. It really isn't a very interesting topic for me, British and early American history. But it's well written, so anyone who loves history will like this book.

Eric G. Christopher Hitchens's biography writing is stellar. Hitchens never seems to miss small historical facts that bridge on fables, and thus, makes any reading concerning historical personalities that much more interesting to read about. This book is especially unique in its recollection of feuds, arguments, and conflicts that followed Paine throughout his life.

The writing in this short book is concise yet dense. Hitchens does a superb job summarizing main points that Paine emphasized throughout his work along with depicting who and what may have influenced his thought. Hence, the reader gets an equal dose of information, theory, and historical context. Foremost among such example is the details surrounding Paine's travels, and how the political situations of any given country affected his perspective, and the most famous feuds that served as catalysts for his revolutionary thinking.

One may recall here Paine's notorious feud with the father of ideological Conservatism Edmund Burke - a feud which drove much of Paine's responses in his Rights of Man. A bit disjointed overall, but an easily read account of Paine's role in the American Revolution. Edit for second read: I went on a bit of an American history bender last year.

It was better learning about history as an adult than a child still in school. I began to learn bits and pieces about the French Revolution in other places. A little about European history in general. Not from fiction or folk history, which has always interested me, but from documentaries. A couple of nights ago, scrolling through books, I came across this Hitch Book, and knew that it was worth a re-read.

It isn't disjointed, it's told in chronological order. But nickname a few months the elder Paine marched hold off to the Civil War. After the war prestige family moved to Xenia, Ill. There Mr. Paine phoney a one-room school, writing "compositions" for the broadsheet "literary" exercises. At 20 he went to Furthermost. Louis, learned photography, tramped with camera for couple years through the South and then set myself up as a dealer in photographic supplies place in Fort Scott, Kan.

He kept this up care ten years, but wrote, too, and his crowning book, "Rhymes by Two Friends"was further the first book of William Allen White, tail it was a collection of their verse. Thomas P. Slaughter Editor. John Dos Passos Editor. Philip Sheldon Foner Editor. To add more books, click here. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.

Common Sense by Thomas Paine really liked it 4.