author
Thomas Paine
1737–1809
A fiery pamphleteer of the revolutionary age, he turned political argument into plain, urgent writing that ordinary readers could grasp at once. His best-known works helped stir support for American independence and kept pressing the case for liberty, rights, and democratic government.
8 Audiobooks
Common Sense
by Thomas Paine
The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Volume III. 1791-1804
by Thomas Paine
Common Sense
by Thomas Paine
About the author
Born in Thetford, England, in 1737, Thomas Paine worked in several trades before sailing to the American colonies in 1774. Soon after arriving, he began writing with unusual directness and force, and in 1776 his pamphlet Common Sense became one of the defining texts of the American Revolution.
Paine’s gift was making big political ideas feel immediate and personal. He followed Common Sense with the American Crisis papers, which encouraged the revolutionary cause during the war, and later wrote Rights of Man in defense of the French Revolution. His work reached a huge audience because it was bold, clear, and aimed at everyday readers rather than just political elites.
Later in life, he also published The Age of Reason, a controversial book on religion that shaped how many readers viewed him. Though his reputation rose and fell during his lifetime, Paine remained one of the great democratic writers of the late eighteenth century, remembered for putting the language of independence and human rights into unforgettable form.