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Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence
From New York Times bestselling author and Founding Fathers' biographer Harlow Giles Unger comes the astonishing biography of the man whose pen set America ablaze, inspiring its revolution, and whose ideas about reason and religion continue to try men's souls.
Thomas Paine's words were like no others in they leaped off the page, inspiring readers to change their lives, their governments, their kings, and even their gods. In an age when spoken and written words were the only forms of communication, Paine's aroused men to action like no one else. The most widely read political writer of his generation, he proved to be more than a century ahead of his time, conceiving and demanding unheard-of social reforms that are now integral elements of modern republican societies. Among them were government subsidies for the poor, universal housing and education, pre- and post-natal care for women, and universal social security. An Englishman who emigrated to the American colonies, he formed close friendships with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and his ideas helped shape the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
However, the world turned against Paine in his later years. While his earlier works, Common Sense and Rights of Man, attacked the political and social status quo here on earth, The Age of Reason attacked the status quo of the hereafter. Former friends shunned him, and the man America had hailed as the muse of the American Revolution died alone and forgotten.
Packed with action and intrigue, soldiers and spies, politics and perfidy, Unger's Thomas Paine is a much-needed new look at a defining figure.
Thomas Paine's words were like no others in they leaped off the page, inspiring readers to change their lives, their governments, their kings, and even their gods. In an age when spoken and written words were the only forms of communication, Paine's aroused men to action like no one else. The most widely read political writer of his generation, he proved to be more than a century ahead of his time, conceiving and demanding unheard-of social reforms that are now integral elements of modern republican societies. Among them were government subsidies for the poor, universal housing and education, pre- and post-natal care for women, and universal social security. An Englishman who emigrated to the American colonies, he formed close friendships with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and his ideas helped shape the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
However, the world turned against Paine in his later years. While his earlier works, Common Sense and Rights of Man, attacked the political and social status quo here on earth, The Age of Reason attacked the status quo of the hereafter. Former friends shunned him, and the man America had hailed as the muse of the American Revolution died alone and forgotten.
Packed with action and intrigue, soldiers and spies, politics and perfidy, Unger's Thomas Paine is a much-needed new look at a defining figure.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2019
36 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
About the author
Harlow Giles Unger
37 books172 followersHarlow Giles Unger is an American author, historian, journalist, broadcaster, and educator known for his extensive work on American history and education. Educated at the Taft School, Yale College, and California State University, Unger began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune Overseas News Service in Paris. He later wrote for newspapers and magazines across Britain, Canada, and other countries, while also working in radio broadcasting and teaching English and journalism at New York-area colleges.
Unger has written over twenty-seven books, including ten biographies of America's Founding Fathers and a notable biography of Henry Clay. His historical works include Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, and First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence. He is also the author of the Encyclopedia of American Education, a three-volume reference work.
A former Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon, Unger has lived in Paris and currently resides in New York City. An avid skier and horseman, he has spent time in Chamonix, France, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has one son, Richard C. Unger.
Unger has written over twenty-seven books, including ten biographies of America's Founding Fathers and a notable biography of Henry Clay. His historical works include Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, and First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence. He is also the author of the Encyclopedia of American Education, a three-volume reference work.
A former Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon, Unger has lived in Paris and currently resides in New York City. An avid skier and horseman, he has spent time in Chamonix, France, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has one son, Richard C. Unger.
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July 29, 2024
Famed American Revolutionary and Early Republic historian Harlow Giles Unger recounts yet another Founding Father, with his latest biography covering the life of the often-quoted radical Thomas Paine. With his typical and appreciated knack for breathlessly summarizing extensive primary research material, Unger chronicles Paine’s unusual upbringing which would lead him across the pond, where his sudden rise in the States would push him to unfounded glory and praise, only to snowball into a steady fall from grace after the young American Republic would come to fruition. Born into a Quaker household on English soil, Paine in his adolescence sees the tyrannical might of British parliamentary law take hold as the poor and religious dissenters alike are strung up to the pillory or worse, and we see early on his struggle to accept or comprehend an unrestrained Monarchy. After devouring a book on Virginia, his fate and determination is cast to the American Colonies, where he longs for a position on a ship bound for the Atlantic and North American coast.
Unger’s style and prose remains positively unchanged since his previous works, with a flow and ease that keeps the reader interested throughout each chapter. He takes us through Paine’s unremarkable beginnings as a stay-maker (designer of corsets), whereupon he loses his first wife prematurely, and the widower goes from being a tax collector to taking odd little jobs as a preacher and tutor. Here he meets his second wife—a devout Quaker whom wishes for celibacy after their nuptials—and it is made clear that they amicably separate, though stay married to the end of his days. By happenstance he meets the illustrious Benjamin Franklin, and with both having an appreciation for Enlightenment ideals and the scientific pursuits of the Royal Society, the Doctor takes him under his wing and provides his passage to America. Unger shows that even before the success of Common Sense and Rights of Man, the controversial pamphleteer was rather ahead of the times in arguing for the abolition of slavery and equality for women, and his influence gathered the attention of Benjamin Rush whom would praise his enlightened ideals and push Paine to the headlines of the Revolution:
Thus, Morris’s vision of the government and individual liberties in an independent America differed widely from Paine’s. Both favored a strong central government, but Morris believed in restricting voting rights to male property owners, with unlimited terms for the President, lifetime appointments to the US Senate, and unfettered capitalism. Paine’s vision ensured equality of all men—and women—in all respects, including universal suffrage, universal public education, universal health care, social security, and almost all the individual benefits promised by twentieth-century socialism.
Often forgotten is Paine’s enlisting in the Continental Cause, to which Unger follows his time as an aide-de-camp under General Nathanael Greene, where the two Patriots share a strong lifelong friendship thereafter. As a soldier Paine pens his most elegant verses in The American Crisis, giving the troops a morale boost before Washington’s famous Christmas crossing of the Delaware, and victories at Trenton and Princeton. Upon a rather successful role as secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs in leading for calls of Silas Deane’s resignation as envoy to France, Unger paints a rather one-sided and naive picture of Arthur Lee and Paine’s role in debilitating Deane for charges of corruption and extortion—accusations that Lee himself was all too guilty of—and as Unger fortunately goes on to note, was a fairly common practice among eighteenth century merchants and politicians. After falling out with many in Congress following the Treaty of Paris, Paine’s revival from poverty by a wartime pension and estate leads him to his next project and esteem as an inventor, engineer, and overall Renaissance man, with the design of an iron bridge which would be erected in England.
Unger takes the reader through Paine’s sojourn through Europe, where his subsequent involvement and praise of the French Revolution land him at odds with old acquaintances and long-time friends. His previous English political ally Edmund Burke leads a diatribe against his naive views, leading Paine to rebuke him with Rights of Man– made instantly a bestseller and causing his flight and exile into France. While much has already been written on Paine and nothing from Unger is truly groundbreaking, his focus on the French Revolution is appealing, as we see an about face when Paine goes from revered “citizen” and apostle of liberty, to infamous “aristocrat” and Quaker foreigner. He nobly reminds the bloodthirsty Jacobins that it was France under King Louis XVI’s guidance which saved the Continental Cause and overall liberty movement that they supposedly yearn for, yet his appeals for the monarchy’s exile into America rather than death by guillotine fall on Robespierre’s deaf yet malicious ears.
This ultimately signs his death warrant, and again the reader finds Paine at odds with yet another country whom he had come to call home. Inevitably, he is thrown into prison awaiting a gloomy fate, and in his despair he miraculously drafts what would become his “blasphemous” religious treatise, Age of Reason. Unger takes us through Paine’s final years by depicting a man down and out in America, digging his own grave and losing the respect of friends everywhere in his attacks on Washington’s Presidency and Christianity—in which the former individual he inaccurately declared had mischievously turned a blind eye to his French imprisonment. A comprehensible undertaking of one of the free world’s most worthy Founders, Unger’s work is complete with over forty illustrations throughout, and two distinct Appendix sections chronicling all of his works and letters and summarizing each chapter of his final work, The Age of Reason.
Unger’s style and prose remains positively unchanged since his previous works, with a flow and ease that keeps the reader interested throughout each chapter. He takes us through Paine’s unremarkable beginnings as a stay-maker (designer of corsets), whereupon he loses his first wife prematurely, and the widower goes from being a tax collector to taking odd little jobs as a preacher and tutor. Here he meets his second wife—a devout Quaker whom wishes for celibacy after their nuptials—and it is made clear that they amicably separate, though stay married to the end of his days. By happenstance he meets the illustrious Benjamin Franklin, and with both having an appreciation for Enlightenment ideals and the scientific pursuits of the Royal Society, the Doctor takes him under his wing and provides his passage to America. Unger shows that even before the success of Common Sense and Rights of Man, the controversial pamphleteer was rather ahead of the times in arguing for the abolition of slavery and equality for women, and his influence gathered the attention of Benjamin Rush whom would praise his enlightened ideals and push Paine to the headlines of the Revolution:
Thus, Morris’s vision of the government and individual liberties in an independent America differed widely from Paine’s. Both favored a strong central government, but Morris believed in restricting voting rights to male property owners, with unlimited terms for the President, lifetime appointments to the US Senate, and unfettered capitalism. Paine’s vision ensured equality of all men—and women—in all respects, including universal suffrage, universal public education, universal health care, social security, and almost all the individual benefits promised by twentieth-century socialism.
Often forgotten is Paine’s enlisting in the Continental Cause, to which Unger follows his time as an aide-de-camp under General Nathanael Greene, where the two Patriots share a strong lifelong friendship thereafter. As a soldier Paine pens his most elegant verses in The American Crisis, giving the troops a morale boost before Washington’s famous Christmas crossing of the Delaware, and victories at Trenton and Princeton. Upon a rather successful role as secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs in leading for calls of Silas Deane’s resignation as envoy to France, Unger paints a rather one-sided and naive picture of Arthur Lee and Paine’s role in debilitating Deane for charges of corruption and extortion—accusations that Lee himself was all too guilty of—and as Unger fortunately goes on to note, was a fairly common practice among eighteenth century merchants and politicians. After falling out with many in Congress following the Treaty of Paris, Paine’s revival from poverty by a wartime pension and estate leads him to his next project and esteem as an inventor, engineer, and overall Renaissance man, with the design of an iron bridge which would be erected in England.
Unger takes the reader through Paine’s sojourn through Europe, where his subsequent involvement and praise of the French Revolution land him at odds with old acquaintances and long-time friends. His previous English political ally Edmund Burke leads a diatribe against his naive views, leading Paine to rebuke him with Rights of Man– made instantly a bestseller and causing his flight and exile into France. While much has already been written on Paine and nothing from Unger is truly groundbreaking, his focus on the French Revolution is appealing, as we see an about face when Paine goes from revered “citizen” and apostle of liberty, to infamous “aristocrat” and Quaker foreigner. He nobly reminds the bloodthirsty Jacobins that it was France under King Louis XVI’s guidance which saved the Continental Cause and overall liberty movement that they supposedly yearn for, yet his appeals for the monarchy’s exile into America rather than death by guillotine fall on Robespierre’s deaf yet malicious ears.
This ultimately signs his death warrant, and again the reader finds Paine at odds with yet another country whom he had come to call home. Inevitably, he is thrown into prison awaiting a gloomy fate, and in his despair he miraculously drafts what would become his “blasphemous” religious treatise, Age of Reason. Unger takes us through Paine’s final years by depicting a man down and out in America, digging his own grave and losing the respect of friends everywhere in his attacks on Washington’s Presidency and Christianity—in which the former individual he inaccurately declared had mischievously turned a blind eye to his French imprisonment. A comprehensible undertaking of one of the free world’s most worthy Founders, Unger’s work is complete with over forty illustrations throughout, and two distinct Appendix sections chronicling all of his works and letters and summarizing each chapter of his final work, The Age of Reason.
September 26, 2019
I have read the majority of books written by Harlow Giles Unger and this might be my favorite to date. Thank you for writing a book about my favorite Founding Father. I can't say this without creating a broad brush stroke but I think most people in this nation have no idea who he is. If they do they know he wrote Common Sense and that was the extent of his career. When talking about him in class with my students over the years they know the name or at least have heard of Common Sense but that's the extent. I am glad that a writer of your caliber resurrected his lost bones (yes, that was intentional) and put flesh back on an important figure of the 18th century.
His biggest downfall was his self importance and meddling in the French Revolution. As the author stated, the French had never governed themselves in their entire history. Our experience with self-governance from London created a situation where we could handle it. The French on the other hand just ran amok and in the end Napoleon took power.
But with that being said, we are all human and all the stars of the show in our minds. We all think of ourselves as more important than we are in relation to the world around us. That's not being cynical, that's just the truth. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Paine was a human with flaws just like the rest of us.
I share similar views on religion as he does so that might be why I identity with him more than some other founders. His ideas were too radical for their times but I think they fit well into the 21st century.
I will re-read this book in the future. That is something I almost never do. But this one is just that good. I would give it an extra star if I could.
His biggest downfall was his self importance and meddling in the French Revolution. As the author stated, the French had never governed themselves in their entire history. Our experience with self-governance from London created a situation where we could handle it. The French on the other hand just ran amok and in the end Napoleon took power.
But with that being said, we are all human and all the stars of the show in our minds. We all think of ourselves as more important than we are in relation to the world around us. That's not being cynical, that's just the truth. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Paine was a human with flaws just like the rest of us.
I share similar views on religion as he does so that might be why I identity with him more than some other founders. His ideas were too radical for their times but I think they fit well into the 21st century.
I will re-read this book in the future. That is something I almost never do. But this one is just that good. I would give it an extra star if I could.
January 22, 2020
A well-written biography of a colorful man who was directly involved in two revolutions (American and French), had numerous encounters with historical figures (from those 2 revolutions), was an eccentric innovator, and was centuries ahead of his time (advocating abolition of slavery, proponent of universal suffrage, government subsidies for the poor, universal education…)
Having challenged first the unassailable authority of monarchs, then of the institution of church, Paine has throughout his life been an advocate of forms of self-government through his writings (common sense, rights of man, and age of reason) and a righteous man always being on the side of what he perceived as fair and just. What shocked me the most in the book was the episode where he was kicked out of the American Congress for revealing the profiteering by many “patriots,” despite his efforts and sacrifices for the revolution.
Ultimately and sadly, his idealism and honesty cost him his reputation in the end as most people chose to shun him by being ‘politically correct’ and unjustly reduced him to historical obscurity.
Having challenged first the unassailable authority of monarchs, then of the institution of church, Paine has throughout his life been an advocate of forms of self-government through his writings (common sense, rights of man, and age of reason) and a righteous man always being on the side of what he perceived as fair and just. What shocked me the most in the book was the episode where he was kicked out of the American Congress for revealing the profiteering by many “patriots,” despite his efforts and sacrifices for the revolution.
Ultimately and sadly, his idealism and honesty cost him his reputation in the end as most people chose to shun him by being ‘politically correct’ and unjustly reduced him to historical obscurity.
July 1, 2020
Can you be a committed activist born at a moment of radical change and have a personal life that fulfills all the social goals? Thomas Paine’s life story as told by Harlow Giles Unger in his book Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence teaches me the details of a life that I knew only as a heading lost in a textbook chapter.
Thomas Paine was born in England but he argued that royalty was an elitist and bad form of government which kept citizens as subjects. The power of the King was backed by “divine right.” In other words, the King was chosen by God, so crimes against the King were sins against God and any person who slandered the King (in this case George III) was a traitor who could be burned at the stake, disemboweled, hung, or any two of the aforementioned horrific ways to die. Was it brave or foolish to argue against royalty as a viable form of government in 18 th century England?
Thomas Paine had to get out of town. He ended up in the American colonies just as the colonists were rebelling against the taxes levied by George III, the troops being quartered in their homes. This was a rebellion that Paine understood. This was a historical moment ripe for Paine’s ideas. He published an inflammatory pamphlet which opened with this famous line; “These are the times that try men’s souls” and he signed himself by the pseudonym ‘Common Sense.’ As the war ran into difficulties with recruitment he published more articles, also signed Common Sense. He knew George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and other founders. He was a Quaker, nonviolent, but he picked up a rifle and joined the fight. We know who won the Revolutionary War but I did not know how many setbacks Washington had on the way. Victory was a near thing until France got involved and that was in response to entreaties from Thomas Paine.
Sadly Thomas Paine was very poor and had to depend on kindnesses from friends. In his years in America he was considered good company. He was eventually given some properties. But Paine did not stay in America. He returned to England to try to see his mother before she died, but he was too late. He was still a wanted man in England and had to go to France. Not everyone knew he was ‘Common Sense,’ but important people did. Paine arrived in Paris in time for the beginnings of the French Revolution which , of course, he championed. But after being greeted as a hero his life went off track in France. While in a French prison he finished a new treatise, The Age of Reason, in which he managed to alienate almost everyone. I have to leave you something to uncover for yourselves, so I will end with Paine ill and imprisoned, but that is not the end of his life or the book. I will say that if people had talked about such a thing as work/life balance during Paine’s lifetime that might have been a message he needed to hear. He was a great man with ideas ahead of his times but apparently life is not always a lark just because you are famous. Activism has consequences.
Thomas Paine was born in England but he argued that royalty was an elitist and bad form of government which kept citizens as subjects. The power of the King was backed by “divine right.” In other words, the King was chosen by God, so crimes against the King were sins against God and any person who slandered the King (in this case George III) was a traitor who could be burned at the stake, disemboweled, hung, or any two of the aforementioned horrific ways to die. Was it brave or foolish to argue against royalty as a viable form of government in 18 th century England?
Thomas Paine had to get out of town. He ended up in the American colonies just as the colonists were rebelling against the taxes levied by George III, the troops being quartered in their homes. This was a rebellion that Paine understood. This was a historical moment ripe for Paine’s ideas. He published an inflammatory pamphlet which opened with this famous line; “These are the times that try men’s souls” and he signed himself by the pseudonym ‘Common Sense.’ As the war ran into difficulties with recruitment he published more articles, also signed Common Sense. He knew George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and other founders. He was a Quaker, nonviolent, but he picked up a rifle and joined the fight. We know who won the Revolutionary War but I did not know how many setbacks Washington had on the way. Victory was a near thing until France got involved and that was in response to entreaties from Thomas Paine.
Sadly Thomas Paine was very poor and had to depend on kindnesses from friends. In his years in America he was considered good company. He was eventually given some properties. But Paine did not stay in America. He returned to England to try to see his mother before she died, but he was too late. He was still a wanted man in England and had to go to France. Not everyone knew he was ‘Common Sense,’ but important people did. Paine arrived in Paris in time for the beginnings of the French Revolution which , of course, he championed. But after being greeted as a hero his life went off track in France. While in a French prison he finished a new treatise, The Age of Reason, in which he managed to alienate almost everyone. I have to leave you something to uncover for yourselves, so I will end with Paine ill and imprisoned, but that is not the end of his life or the book. I will say that if people had talked about such a thing as work/life balance during Paine’s lifetime that might have been a message he needed to hear. He was a great man with ideas ahead of his times but apparently life is not always a lark just because you are famous. Activism has consequences.
November 27, 2023
I knew almost nothing about Thomas Paine, except the huge influence of his pamphlet Common Sense and a later one challenging conventional religion. I didn't know that he actually fought in the Revolutionary War alongside George Washington, that he contributed all the income from the sale of his writings to the war effort, nor that later he was active in the French Revolution and imprisoned in Paris dreading execution for some months. Nor that at the same time he was both hated in England and idolized in France for his opposition to monarchy. But he wanted the French king exiled, not executed, which then put Paine at odds with radicals in power there. Nor about his other writings, and how they influenced public opinion. And his ideas on religion . . .
It goes on and on -- his fortunes rose and fell several times and in many ways he was ahead of his time. A remarkable read.
It goes on and on -- his fortunes rose and fell several times and in many ways he was ahead of his time. A remarkable read.
September 1, 2019
A very easy-to-follow biography of one of the greatest personalities to affect the American Revolution by one of today's foremost historians. Unger's prose allows the triumph and tragedy of the enigmatic Paine to come center stage, and those looking for a biographical profile will not feel intimidated in giving this a go. I particularly enjoyed that the author touched on Paine's relationships with other notables of the era, letting Paine speak for himself as only he could. Most are familiar of course with Common Sense, but to hear his colorful yet simple language in his letters to contemporaries allows the reader a deep dive into Paine's psyche. In the interest of full disclosure, I received an advanced copy for review.
April 24, 2023
A very engrossing biography due to the fact that Thomas Paine was a very complicated man.
This man’s mind for freedom and equality, as well as revolution are laid bare in this book for better, and for worse, Thomas Paine was respected and reviled. The author goes into great detail to describe why this occurred and how did Thomas Paine dealt with these tribulations. This was very enlightening to me as I knew very little about Thomas Paine and his influence on both the American Revolution as well as the French Revolution.
I was aware from the reading of biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin that Paine was ostracized late in life for his rejection of all religions and their various creation stories. As an avowed Deist, he rejected his Quaker upbringing, and specifically the divinity of Jesus Christ. The author goes into great detail about Paine’s logical attack on both the Old and New Testaments. My only reason for a one star deduction was the fact that this was regurgitated a couple of times in the book. All the detail was very helpful in understanding Paine and his incessant rebuttals and f anything he disagreed with. The second dive into his works on the Age of Reason seemed unnecessary and detracted from the ending of the book. Perhaps another reading will change my mind on this. However, it seemed more like the author was making some sort of point related to organized religion for readers like myself who are believers as opposed to a necessary part of the story. This is a minor detail, and should not distract others from reading or listening to this book. Overall, it is very well done.
This was a very intriguing story, and a lot of detail on somebody I knew very little about. So I’m very pleased to have listen to the audio version. The reader, Peter Berkot, did a marvelous job. He made it very easy to listen to, and I would definitely listen again.
One take away from this book was the level of intrigue amongst the American patriots and the British and French officials involved in the American as well as the French revolutions. As the Bible says, “there is nothing new under the sun,” and it is very obvious that human beings have acted in their own self beginning of time. Which somewhat undercuts the ability to have a representative government. I even reflected on this from the French Revolution to current time with United States, trying to establish governments in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Both countries, like France, have never known self government, and therefore prefer an autocrat or dictator to democracy or a representative republic. It just doesn’t work because there are hundreds if not thousands of years of training that makes this unnatural. Which makes me think about the adage that “if you don’t know, history are doomed to repeat it.” In the case of the United States we appear to know very little world history when it comes to involvement around the globe to stop the spread of communism or terrorism. We continue to repeat mistakes from 200 years ago.
United States is very fortunate to of had Thomas Paine immigrate from England and served as a voice calling men to arms into freedom. Some may say the same about his reputation of the Bible and the Quran. Regardless, this is a very important figure in the early history of the United States and a man who ended up largely forgotten. The author has done a good service in writing this book that is free of personal attacks on the man and appears to be a fair and balanced look at his overall life’s works.
This man’s mind for freedom and equality, as well as revolution are laid bare in this book for better, and for worse, Thomas Paine was respected and reviled. The author goes into great detail to describe why this occurred and how did Thomas Paine dealt with these tribulations. This was very enlightening to me as I knew very little about Thomas Paine and his influence on both the American Revolution as well as the French Revolution.
I was aware from the reading of biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin that Paine was ostracized late in life for his rejection of all religions and their various creation stories. As an avowed Deist, he rejected his Quaker upbringing, and specifically the divinity of Jesus Christ. The author goes into great detail about Paine’s logical attack on both the Old and New Testaments. My only reason for a one star deduction was the fact that this was regurgitated a couple of times in the book. All the detail was very helpful in understanding Paine and his incessant rebuttals and f anything he disagreed with. The second dive into his works on the Age of Reason seemed unnecessary and detracted from the ending of the book. Perhaps another reading will change my mind on this. However, it seemed more like the author was making some sort of point related to organized religion for readers like myself who are believers as opposed to a necessary part of the story. This is a minor detail, and should not distract others from reading or listening to this book. Overall, it is very well done.
This was a very intriguing story, and a lot of detail on somebody I knew very little about. So I’m very pleased to have listen to the audio version. The reader, Peter Berkot, did a marvelous job. He made it very easy to listen to, and I would definitely listen again.
One take away from this book was the level of intrigue amongst the American patriots and the British and French officials involved in the American as well as the French revolutions. As the Bible says, “there is nothing new under the sun,” and it is very obvious that human beings have acted in their own self beginning of time. Which somewhat undercuts the ability to have a representative government. I even reflected on this from the French Revolution to current time with United States, trying to establish governments in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Both countries, like France, have never known self government, and therefore prefer an autocrat or dictator to democracy or a representative republic. It just doesn’t work because there are hundreds if not thousands of years of training that makes this unnatural. Which makes me think about the adage that “if you don’t know, history are doomed to repeat it.” In the case of the United States we appear to know very little world history when it comes to involvement around the globe to stop the spread of communism or terrorism. We continue to repeat mistakes from 200 years ago.
United States is very fortunate to of had Thomas Paine immigrate from England and served as a voice calling men to arms into freedom. Some may say the same about his reputation of the Bible and the Quran. Regardless, this is a very important figure in the early history of the United States and a man who ended up largely forgotten. The author has done a good service in writing this book that is free of personal attacks on the man and appears to be a fair and balanced look at his overall life’s works.
January 11, 2020
Thomas Paine is that most controversial of founding figures, though rarely afforded the admiration and esteem of those who would later serve in high public office, that he had the effect he did purely through the power and cogency of his thought committed to paper is all the more remarkable. It is perhaps his complete independence of mind that makes him the most difficult of the founding generation to superficially eulogize and hagiographize.
He was at times an Englishman who became the most potent American voice against English tyranny, a beloved American revolutionary who was once the darling yet became the victim of the tyranny of the French Revolution, and the forgotten revolutionary who perished in relative obscurity for combatting the tyrannies of organized religion. However his works have outlasted the fecund meanderings of opinion to be found at his own time in the form of such timeless masterpieces as Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and the incredible Age of Reason.
In this biography, Harlow Giles Unger speaks not with the cold, dispassionate voice of a disinterested biographer but with the enthusiasm and admiration of a devoted student. His admiration for Paine is clear throughout though he is not hesitant to be objective and thorough in his delivery of information. Perhaps the most interesting bits of this volume include the sheer amount of attempted (and successful) war-profiteering among the newly-minted American revolutionaries and the means whereby Paine ran afoul of the French Revolution movement he had at once greatly championed. A worthy addition to the existing works on Paine, though when dealing with a subject so singular in terms of wit and perspicacity, this is best enjoyed alongside the subject's own writings.
He was at times an Englishman who became the most potent American voice against English tyranny, a beloved American revolutionary who was once the darling yet became the victim of the tyranny of the French Revolution, and the forgotten revolutionary who perished in relative obscurity for combatting the tyrannies of organized religion. However his works have outlasted the fecund meanderings of opinion to be found at his own time in the form of such timeless masterpieces as Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and the incredible Age of Reason.
In this biography, Harlow Giles Unger speaks not with the cold, dispassionate voice of a disinterested biographer but with the enthusiasm and admiration of a devoted student. His admiration for Paine is clear throughout though he is not hesitant to be objective and thorough in his delivery of information. Perhaps the most interesting bits of this volume include the sheer amount of attempted (and successful) war-profiteering among the newly-minted American revolutionaries and the means whereby Paine ran afoul of the French Revolution movement he had at once greatly championed. A worthy addition to the existing works on Paine, though when dealing with a subject so singular in terms of wit and perspicacity, this is best enjoyed alongside the subject's own writings.
March 7, 2023
Thomas Paine was a genius. To me a genius is someone who is naturally, innately, gifted, regardless of education, upbringing, or obstacles. A genius is also someone who sees what others do not. For this reason, Paine was a man of the future, not only of the 18th century. He speaks to us now more than ever. But that vision caused him trouble and was one of the reasons, I think, why Paine's work irritated people. Another reason was that he was not an "aristocrat." He did not have advantages or education or wealth or background or connections or a prominent family or the approval of people who ran the society. Most of his life he was poor. He was never rich. John Adams and Gouverneur Morris, for example, disliked him and seemed to act as if they were envious or jealous of the fame and attention and credit this lowly artisan received. But Paine made full use of his genius in the USA, France and Great Britain in the precarious time of revolutions. in each of these counties he made enemies among the citizens as well as the governments, but he also made friends like Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Paine was a citizen of all three countries, but he truly wanted a revolution of the world. His trip from Dover to Calais is an example of the polarity of his life. In Dover, in England, he was scorned and despised. Had he stayed a day longer, he would have been in prison. But when he reached Calais, France, he was given a hero's welcome, in every town, from Calais to Paris.
I think it's important to read Paine first before reading biographies or studies. I read the Collected Writings of Paine edited by Eric Foner in the Library of America series. I realized after finishing Unger and Paine's writings that Paine is a tough guy to capture and explain. I got some sense of the man in the last third of Unger's book (starting with chapter 10), but the first 2/3 was driven by events rather than Paine's character. No fault of Unger. Paine's life was full of events. But the man in the 2/3 did not seem like the man who wrote The Rights of Man or The American Crisis or Agrarian Justice or, of course, Common Sense. Here too the polarity. But to understand Paine even partially, as Unger certainly does, is an achievement. Yet I kept asking: Who was Paine the person, Paine the genius? How was he so inspired? Where did the words come from?
I have a few minor complaints about the book. Unger writes of one of Paine's speeches: "And still, Paine droned on, unable or unwilling to recognize the horrors abounding around him." (p.166) "Unwilling" to recognize the horrors? Not sure that's fair. Paine was nothing if not compassionate and caring about the common man. He was, after all, speaking in a hall full of dangerous opponents, and trying to stop the execution of the Louis XVI. If he had any inkling of what was happening outside the hall while he was speaking, he would have spoken out against it. Paine would not have approved the bloodbath the Jacobin mob was causing.
It also seems to bother Unger that Paine does not speak or write French. Perhaps it is more important to examine how this man could have accomplished in France so much without speaking French. Let's give praise to the French people of that time. They were interested in what he said, not in the language. They recognized his genius.
"Nor did Paine have the political sense to retreat while he still could." "Paine's defiance and haughty arguments..." (p. 173) Not have the political sense? Haughty? How could such a man come to know and be respected by so many important people in this age, a man with no background or connections, without political sense? Why does a woman like Mary Wollstonecraft or a political thinker such as William Godwin associate with Paine? Benjamin Franklin was an astute person. Why did he respect Paine and listen to Paine? What of Thomas Jefferson, a very shrewd and insightful thinker? What does he see in his friendship with Paine? What of Joseph Priestly and Robert Fulton and (during the War and briefly after) George Washington, and Lafayette and many others? These were intelligent and important people who knew his genius.
Paine, Unger writes, "feigned bravado..."(p.179) Paine certainly had no reputation for feigning anything.
But these are minor matters. Unger does a good job of showing that Paine was an incorruptible. That quality bothered many people, people like Gouverneur Morriss. One cannot help admire Paine for refusing to give in, for being moral and ethical when others would take advantage of their position. He also tried to be a man of God, though belonging to no church or religion. His Age of Reason clearly shows how deeply he believed in a righteous and moral life under God. He wasn't perfect, but for his time he stood, in my opinion, high above many others.
Unger writes of Paine's sad end. how he was demeaned, neglected and ignored and even purposefully unmentioned after his death because of The Age of Reason. No one represented Britain, France or America at his funeral. He was buried on his property with no memorial.
Yet, putting aside nationality, Unger shows that Paine was one of the bravest men who ever lived and also one of the most influential. Even when his writings were disparaged and could have landed him in prison, he walked the streets and supported them. He served in the War of Independence when it was life-threatening. He stayed in Britain when they wanted to execute him. He stayed in France when Robespierre was after him and he ended in prison. Paine was at Valley Forge and with the troops in the War of Independence under Washington's command. This is a man who stood up for justice and truth regardless of the dangers to himself in the USA, Britain, and France. No one in American history, except for Abraham Lincoln, compares to his character and his work.
Unger's book is useful and has many merits as a biography, with a good index and an outline of The Age of Reason. It is certainly a good introduction to the events of his life. But how did this man from such an unknown village in England (Thetford) reach the world stage, influence so many people at all levels of society in three countries, and sell more books and pamphlets on such critical subjects than anyone else in European history up to that time. Yes, he was a genius. But he used his genius to change the world. How did he do it?
Thank you, Professor Unger, for offering this fine book on a too often ignored giant of 18th century Europe and America. Could we not use someone like Thomas Paine today? Paine's haunting words at the end of Unger's book will hopefully wake us up, as Paine woke up the colonies.
I think it's important to read Paine first before reading biographies or studies. I read the Collected Writings of Paine edited by Eric Foner in the Library of America series. I realized after finishing Unger and Paine's writings that Paine is a tough guy to capture and explain. I got some sense of the man in the last third of Unger's book (starting with chapter 10), but the first 2/3 was driven by events rather than Paine's character. No fault of Unger. Paine's life was full of events. But the man in the 2/3 did not seem like the man who wrote The Rights of Man or The American Crisis or Agrarian Justice or, of course, Common Sense. Here too the polarity. But to understand Paine even partially, as Unger certainly does, is an achievement. Yet I kept asking: Who was Paine the person, Paine the genius? How was he so inspired? Where did the words come from?
I have a few minor complaints about the book. Unger writes of one of Paine's speeches: "And still, Paine droned on, unable or unwilling to recognize the horrors abounding around him." (p.166) "Unwilling" to recognize the horrors? Not sure that's fair. Paine was nothing if not compassionate and caring about the common man. He was, after all, speaking in a hall full of dangerous opponents, and trying to stop the execution of the Louis XVI. If he had any inkling of what was happening outside the hall while he was speaking, he would have spoken out against it. Paine would not have approved the bloodbath the Jacobin mob was causing.
It also seems to bother Unger that Paine does not speak or write French. Perhaps it is more important to examine how this man could have accomplished in France so much without speaking French. Let's give praise to the French people of that time. They were interested in what he said, not in the language. They recognized his genius.
"Nor did Paine have the political sense to retreat while he still could." "Paine's defiance and haughty arguments..." (p. 173) Not have the political sense? Haughty? How could such a man come to know and be respected by so many important people in this age, a man with no background or connections, without political sense? Why does a woman like Mary Wollstonecraft or a political thinker such as William Godwin associate with Paine? Benjamin Franklin was an astute person. Why did he respect Paine and listen to Paine? What of Thomas Jefferson, a very shrewd and insightful thinker? What does he see in his friendship with Paine? What of Joseph Priestly and Robert Fulton and (during the War and briefly after) George Washington, and Lafayette and many others? These were intelligent and important people who knew his genius.
Paine, Unger writes, "feigned bravado..."(p.179) Paine certainly had no reputation for feigning anything.
But these are minor matters. Unger does a good job of showing that Paine was an incorruptible. That quality bothered many people, people like Gouverneur Morriss. One cannot help admire Paine for refusing to give in, for being moral and ethical when others would take advantage of their position. He also tried to be a man of God, though belonging to no church or religion. His Age of Reason clearly shows how deeply he believed in a righteous and moral life under God. He wasn't perfect, but for his time he stood, in my opinion, high above many others.
Unger writes of Paine's sad end. how he was demeaned, neglected and ignored and even purposefully unmentioned after his death because of The Age of Reason. No one represented Britain, France or America at his funeral. He was buried on his property with no memorial.
Yet, putting aside nationality, Unger shows that Paine was one of the bravest men who ever lived and also one of the most influential. Even when his writings were disparaged and could have landed him in prison, he walked the streets and supported them. He served in the War of Independence when it was life-threatening. He stayed in Britain when they wanted to execute him. He stayed in France when Robespierre was after him and he ended in prison. Paine was at Valley Forge and with the troops in the War of Independence under Washington's command. This is a man who stood up for justice and truth regardless of the dangers to himself in the USA, Britain, and France. No one in American history, except for Abraham Lincoln, compares to his character and his work.
Unger's book is useful and has many merits as a biography, with a good index and an outline of The Age of Reason. It is certainly a good introduction to the events of his life. But how did this man from such an unknown village in England (Thetford) reach the world stage, influence so many people at all levels of society in three countries, and sell more books and pamphlets on such critical subjects than anyone else in European history up to that time. Yes, he was a genius. But he used his genius to change the world. How did he do it?
Thank you, Professor Unger, for offering this fine book on a too often ignored giant of 18th century Europe and America. Could we not use someone like Thomas Paine today? Paine's haunting words at the end of Unger's book will hopefully wake us up, as Paine woke up the colonies.
February 8, 2025
I purchased this book a few years ago at the wonderful Museum of American Revolution in Philadelphia. Today, Thomas Paine receives little recognition for his part in the American Revolution, or at least by contrast to the weight of his influence. I won’t retell his story here, but it was a great read that revealed surprises and delights along the way. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Monroe, Marie Antoinette, and Napolean Bonaparte all make appearances in Paine’s story. Ahead of his time, his publication Common Sense, outlined the problems with monarchy and the justification for American freedom. He believed in liberty, human rights, women’s health care, native rights, anti-slavery, etc. Ultimately, it was his negative views on organized religion in his publication, Age of Reason, that caused him to be an outcast among friends. (Along with his personality flaws made more pronounced by a lengthy prison term). I learned a lot about this important contributor to our US history.
Finally, the author did a fantastic job wrapping up the book with Paine’s own cautionary words about a potential downfall of the US, by those who will not recognize the ideals of freedom that we were actually built on.
Finally, the author did a fantastic job wrapping up the book with Paine’s own cautionary words about a potential downfall of the US, by those who will not recognize the ideals of freedom that we were actually built on.
December 2, 2021
H G Unger's new book on Patriot (and North Ave neighbor) Tom Paine depicts a bold and talented writer and a genial friend---of William Blake, for one, and Mary Wolstonecraft, the "harshly criticized" feminist, and anti-imperialist Joseph Priestly, and of the government staking the young, as they come of age, to establish their trade, profession, or business. In other words he was as progressive as the best of us, 250 years ago. Are we who are patient with slow progress actually the creators of no progress? Also--not to blame Paine for dying lonesome, poor, and unappreciated, was he maybe an "isolator," who unconsciously kept love and friendship at a distance? Confused the marketplace of ideas and power with the economics of the heart? On the cover, is that the Smile of Reason, or a pointed smirk? Look at the trouble he got in when he moved from politics to religion. Here is a straightforward yet mysterious American to get to know.
October 3, 2019
This was an excellent biography of Thomas Paine and his writings. Paine believed in equality for all and the pamphlet Common Sense resonated with most people in America during the Revolutionary War, He ran into problems in revolutionary France as the citizens were not quite ready to govern themselves, This book compares and contrasts Paine's life in both places during two different wars, The French Revolution was not a good time for Paine and he did spend 10 months in jail during this time. Paine fell out of favor over his Age of Reason as the deist viewpoint was not possible. Not believing in Jesus Christ as a Redeemer did not sit well with most people at this time. Paine was smart and studied mechanics in his spare time, learning all he could about Natural Philosophy, but was unable to learn a foreign language.
February 27, 2020
An easy-to-read survey of Paine's life and writings. It was a tragic life. In the span of 30 years, Paine went from being hailed internationally as the apostle of liberty whose clarion call for independence from the British monarchy in "Common Sense" sparked the Declaration of Independence to a lonely death in New York, abandoned by friends and hated by enemies primarily for his attack on Christianity in his much despised "Age of Reason." His enduring fall from grace was not just all bad luck. His blinding ego simply got in the way of what could have been a celebrated life. In the end, his choices to become involved with the chaos of the French Revolution, to attack publicly the character of George Washington and his belligerent intolerance of any beliefs other than Deism ultimately undermined his place in history.
February 7, 2022
John Adams said of Thomas Paine: “Without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Paine ignited the Revolution with Common Sense and Napoleon slept with a copy of Paine’s The Rights of Man under his pillow. He carried the key to the Bastille until it could reach Washington at Mount Vernon. Known throughout the world at the time that tried men’s souls, Paine died destitute, drunk and alone, only to have his body stolen and returned to England to be scattered on the land he loathed. And all because he reasoned religion was a farce in The Age of Reason, which he composed in prison. This is the story of a Revolutionary who fought beside George Washington and the rest, only to be forgotten in most biographies of men and women of the era. I highly recommend it.
September 30, 2019
Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence, the latest biography from Harlow Giles Unger, written in a clear and comfortably flowing text, perfectly captures the character and fate of a man who tried men’s souls. Initially those feeling oppressed rallied around Thomas Paine’s words, first in the American colonies then in France, holding public readings of Paine’s works, parading through the streets with banners quoting Paine, and heaping awards and accolades on him. However, after the oppressed got the upper hand in their struggle, seized opportunities for personal gain, and denied others the very rights they had protested were sacrosanct, they used an arsenal of fake news, revoked positions, flip-flopping, incarceration, and malice against Paine when he challenged their profiteering, their hypocrisy, and their naivete.
Paine’s story, as readably recounted by Mr. Unger, suggests the morally consistent nudge history rather than direct it.
Paine’s story, as readably recounted by Mr. Unger, suggests the morally consistent nudge history rather than direct it.
June 2, 2020
Incredibly interesting. Before reading, I knew his name of a few of his written works. I learned so much about the incredible role that he played in both the American and French Revolutions, and all that he added to the debates that took place in the infancy of our country. I did not know he was such a strong advocate of the abolition of slavery. As I sit and listen to the news of June 2, 2020, I cannot help but wonder what my country would be doing today if his views had come to fruition during his lifetime.
August 31, 2021
It is worth reading about our founding fathers who may have been forgotten by many. Through his writings, he inspired the men and women of the United States to believe in liberty and freedom. He participated in the French Revolution and suffered from it. It is important that we learn about all of those who believed in liberty and freedom. May not agree with all of Paine’s view but he choose to think and reason and not to choose the popular route.
October 5, 2023
I know Thomas Paine from Common Sense and the line "These are the times that try man's soul" but that was all. The author tells a detailed story of Paine, his fight for Independence with his rifle and his pen. His time in France is for a good cause but revolutions are not all the same! Paine has good intentions but he does not read people well and that gets him in trouble and the loss of friends. Enjoy the read!
July 21, 2025
One of the least appreciated yet crucially important founding fathers. Paine's writing is extraordinary in the direct and compelling way it deals with monarchy and communicates the rights of man. He led an unusual life and was/is ignored or downplayed because of his writing about religion. Unger does an excellent job of presenting Paine's ideas and the context in which he wrote them. Highly recommend.
September 16, 2019
This was an interesting biography on a man that few people have heard much about unless they are really into history. Thomas Paine had an enormous impact on the American Revolution and the author did a great job of capturing not only his contribution to the revolution, but also interesting tidbits of his life.
February 2, 2020
Reading more about Thomas Paine has been on my "to-do list" for years after a conversation with a Scottish fellow in a Glasgow bar while waiting for a friend - he described the impact of Paine during the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution, introducing the Douglas Fir tree into the US, etc. The book was interesting and well written. But no mention of the Douglas Fir tree.
June 4, 2021
An interesting look at the unsung founding father. I thought his book was a nice biography about Paine while including a few excerpts of his work. The book reinforces my belief that Paine does not get the recognition he deserves, not only regarding his importance to the American Revolution, but also his place as a important writer of the Enlightenment.
July 17, 2019
This is a great historical book and the author has done their research. Valuable information and interesting. Well written and easy to understand.
October 28, 2019
NICE BOOK NEED MORE DETAILS.
January 17, 2020
I love Thomas Paine! This is a great biography - clear, snappy, thorough, and interesting.
November 1, 2020
An astonishing biography of a great man.
March 17, 2023
An interesting listen!
December 29, 2023
Very interesting.
March 14, 2025
Very readable…
September 19, 2019
Paine followed reason as he was writing against the two tent poles of traditionalism, monarchy and religion. He suffered for his beliefs. I read this after hearing Mo Rocca talk about Paine at ALA.
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