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The book that created the modern United States, Paine's incendiary call for Americans to revolt against British rule
Great Ideas
Penguin
September 2005
224 pages ISBN: 0143036254 Paperback (reprint)
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Literature and Fiction
The book that created the modern United States, Paine's
incendiary call for Americans to revolt against British
rule converted millions to the cause of independence and
set out a vision of a just society. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They
have transformed the way we see ourselves—and each other.
They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution.
They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted.
They have enriched lives—and destroyed them. Now, Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers,
pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook
civilization, and helped make us who we are. Penguin's
Great Ideas series features twelve groundbreaking works by
some of history's most prodigious thinkers, and each volume
is beautifully packaged with a unique type-drive design
that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great
literature in great packages at great prices, this series
is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor
the Great Ideas that have shaped the world. Published anonymously in 1776, six months before the
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
was a radical and impassioned call for America to free
itself from British rule and set up an independent
republican government. Savagely attacking hereditary
kingship and aristocratic institutions, Paine urged a new
beginning for his adopted country in which personal freedom
and social equality would be upheld and economic and
cultural progress encouraged. His pamphlet was the first
to speak directly to a mass audience—it went through fifty-
six editions within a year of publication—and its assertive
and often caustic style both embodied the democratic spirit
he advocated, and converted thousands of citizens to the
cause of American independence.
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