Rights of Man  : Penguin American Library - Thomas Paine

Rights of Man

By: Thomas Paine

Paperback | 1 June 1986 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $24.99

$23.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $5.94 with

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

When will this arrive by?
Enter delivery postcode to estimate

One of the great classics on democracy, Rights of Man was published in England in 1791 as a vindication of the French Revolution and a critique of the British system of government. In direct, forceful prose, Paine defends popular rights, national independence, revolutionary war, and economic growth - all considered dangerous and even seditious issues. In his introduction Eric Foner presents an overview of Paine's career as political theorist and pamphleteer, and supplies essential background material to Rights of Man. He discusses how Paine created a language of modern politics that brought important issues to the common man and the working classes and assesses the debt owed to Paine by the American and British radical traditions.

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.

More in Political Structures & Democracy

How Australian Democracy Works : And why we need it more than ever - Amanda Dunn
Technofeudalism : What Killed Capitalism - Yanis Varoufakis

RRP $24.99

$23.75

On Tyranny : Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder
A Promised Land : The Presidential Memoirs Vol. 1 - Barack Obama

RRP $65.00

$44.25

32%
OFF
The Tyranny of Merit : What's Become of the Common Good? - Michael J. Sandel
It's OK To Be Angry About Capitalism - Bernie Sanders

RRP $35.00

$31.75

Athenian Democracy at War - David M.  Pritchard

RRP $59.95

$55.75

On Tyranny : Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder
The Open Society and Its Enemies : Routledge Classics - Karl Popper
A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
Global Governance Futures - Rorden  Wilkinson

RRP $69.99

$61.80

12%
OFF
Going Infinite : The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon - Michael Lewis
Enough - Cassidy Hutchinson

Hardcover

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF
Adventures in Democracy : The Turbulent World of People Power - Erica Benner