Common Sense

''Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess." Thomas Paine was one of the most influential and inspirational writers of his age. One of the Founding Fathers of America, John Adams, stated that without his writing in Common Sense, "the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain." The Rights of Man was Paine's greatest and most popular work. In this response to the French Revolution, he wrote...

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.

This major collection demonstrates the extent to which Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an inspiration to the Americans in their struggle for independence, a passionate supporter of the French Revolution and perhaps the outstanding English radical writer of his age. It contains all of Paine's major works including The Rights of Man, his groundbreaking defence of the revolutionary cause in France, Common Sense, which won thousands over to the side of the American rebels, and the first part of...