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The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine
Paul Collins travels the globe piecing together the missing body and soul of one of our most enigmatic founding fathers: Thomas Paine.
A typical book about an American founding father doesn't start at a gay piano bar and end in a sewage ditch. But then, Tom Paine isn't your typical founding father. A firebrand rebel and a radical on the run, Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern democracies. In death, his story turns truly bizarre. Shunned as an infidel by every church, he had to be interred in an open field on a New York farm. Ten years later, a former enemy converting to Paine's cause dug up the bones and carried them back to Britain, where he planned to build a mausoleum in Paine's honor. But he never got around to it. So what happened to the body of this founding father?
Well, it got lost. Paine's missing bones, like saint's relics, have been scattered for two centuries, and their travels are the trail of radical democracy itself. Paul Collins combines wry, present-day travelogue with an odyssey down the forgotten paths of history as he searches for the remains of Tom Paine and finds them hidden in, among other places, a Paris hotel, underneath a London tailor's stool, and inside a roadside statue in New York. Along the way he crosses paths with everyone from Walt Whitman and Charles Darwin to sex reformers and hellfire ministers―not to mention a suicidal gunman, a Ferrari dealer, and berserk feral monkeys.
In the end, Collins's search for Paine's body instead finds the soul of democracy―for it is the story of how Paine's struggles have lived on through his eccentric and idealistic followers.
A typical book about an American founding father doesn't start at a gay piano bar and end in a sewage ditch. But then, Tom Paine isn't your typical founding father. A firebrand rebel and a radical on the run, Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern democracies. In death, his story turns truly bizarre. Shunned as an infidel by every church, he had to be interred in an open field on a New York farm. Ten years later, a former enemy converting to Paine's cause dug up the bones and carried them back to Britain, where he planned to build a mausoleum in Paine's honor. But he never got around to it. So what happened to the body of this founding father?
Well, it got lost. Paine's missing bones, like saint's relics, have been scattered for two centuries, and their travels are the trail of radical democracy itself. Paul Collins combines wry, present-day travelogue with an odyssey down the forgotten paths of history as he searches for the remains of Tom Paine and finds them hidden in, among other places, a Paris hotel, underneath a London tailor's stool, and inside a roadside statue in New York. Along the way he crosses paths with everyone from Walt Whitman and Charles Darwin to sex reformers and hellfire ministers―not to mention a suicidal gunman, a Ferrari dealer, and berserk feral monkeys.
In the end, Collins's search for Paine's body instead finds the soul of democracy―for it is the story of how Paine's struggles have lived on through his eccentric and idealistic followers.
Audio CD
First published October 19, 2005
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About the author
Paul Collins
13 books280 followersPaul Collins is a writer specializing in history, memoir, and unusual antiquarian literature. His ten books have been translated into a dozen languages, and include Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books (2003) and The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime that Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars (2011). He lives in Oregon, where he is Chair and Professor of English at Portland State University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
November 24, 2023
Old Tom Paine, there he lies
Nobody laughs and nobody cries
Where he’s gone and how he fares
Nobody knows and nobody cares
But I will dance to Tom Paine’s bones
Dance to Tom Paine’s bones
Dance in the oldest boots I own
To the rhythm of Tom Paine’s bones.
Tom Paine’s Bones, by Graham Moore
Tom Paine, the most radical and revolutionary of America’s founders could never lie easy. After participating in both great republican revolutions of the 18th century, he continued to stir up controversy with his book, The Age of Reason, a logical attack on revealed religion of the day. Because of this book, he was refused burial in the Quaker burial ground (his childhood sect) and was interred on the grounds of his farm. But this proved only a temporary resting place, as his bone were dug up, taken to England, and commenced on a most unusual post life journey.
Paul Collins set out to trace the journey of Tom Paine’s bones. Starting with Paine’s final, sad and lonely days, he traces the bizarre afterlife of Paine’s mortal remains. In doing so, he sketches an odd history of 19th century Britain and United States, that winds its way around eccentric characters both obscure and famous, and some of the centuries biggest fads and causes (phrenology, spiritualism, abolitionism, Transcendentalism, contraception, etc.) He mixes in some light travelogue with his history as well, visiting the modern locations where significant event from his history occurred.
The idea of The Trouble with Tom excited me far more than its reality. There is some truly eccentric history here, but it tends to be a bit scattershot. The device of following the afterlife of Paine’s bones is an excuse to tell otherwise disconnected odd histories, and often seems to lose sight of its connecting spirit — Tom Paine. The travelogue bits are occasionally clever, but just as often distracting. This wasn’t at all a bad book, it just made the mistake of peaking my expectations and then falling short of them.
Nobody laughs and nobody cries
Where he’s gone and how he fares
Nobody knows and nobody cares
But I will dance to Tom Paine’s bones
Dance to Tom Paine’s bones
Dance in the oldest boots I own
To the rhythm of Tom Paine’s bones.
Tom Paine’s Bones, by Graham Moore
Tom Paine, the most radical and revolutionary of America’s founders could never lie easy. After participating in both great republican revolutions of the 18th century, he continued to stir up controversy with his book, The Age of Reason, a logical attack on revealed religion of the day. Because of this book, he was refused burial in the Quaker burial ground (his childhood sect) and was interred on the grounds of his farm. But this proved only a temporary resting place, as his bone were dug up, taken to England, and commenced on a most unusual post life journey.
Paul Collins set out to trace the journey of Tom Paine’s bones. Starting with Paine’s final, sad and lonely days, he traces the bizarre afterlife of Paine’s mortal remains. In doing so, he sketches an odd history of 19th century Britain and United States, that winds its way around eccentric characters both obscure and famous, and some of the centuries biggest fads and causes (phrenology, spiritualism, abolitionism, Transcendentalism, contraception, etc.) He mixes in some light travelogue with his history as well, visiting the modern locations where significant event from his history occurred.
The idea of The Trouble with Tom excited me far more than its reality. There is some truly eccentric history here, but it tends to be a bit scattershot. The device of following the afterlife of Paine’s bones is an excuse to tell otherwise disconnected odd histories, and often seems to lose sight of its connecting spirit — Tom Paine. The travelogue bits are occasionally clever, but just as often distracting. This wasn’t at all a bad book, it just made the mistake of peaking my expectations and then falling short of them.
May 18, 2018
Chronicles the dying years of Thomas Paine and beyond, using a combination of travelogue and biography, along with nutshell history lessons. Towards the end of the book, it becomes a bit scattered, not unlike the mortal remains. Still, a fun read with a bit of humor.
A big part of this book isn't so much the bones as who bought 'em, and why. Interesting characters come and go, and perhaps the greatest is Moncure Conway, the Forrest Gump of his time. I did not realize that Paine and Thoreau were so connected, nor so disliked in their time.
I would have appreciated a few more maps, and perhaps a photo or two of the buildings described in such detail. This book was a decent read and fairly quick.
A big part of this book isn't so much the bones as who bought 'em, and why. Interesting characters come and go, and perhaps the greatest is Moncure Conway, the Forrest Gump of his time. I did not realize that Paine and Thoreau were so connected, nor so disliked in their time.
I would have appreciated a few more maps, and perhaps a photo or two of the buildings described in such detail. This book was a decent read and fairly quick.
February 13, 2007
Once again Paul Collins proves himself to be one of the most important historians of our time. The Trouble with Tom is the most important piece of early American history that Americans will never know about. Collins explores not only the misadventures surrounding Paine's missing bones, but more importantly, what lasts long after the body- Paine's works, and the figures throughout history that his writing has affected, and how one of the most important-and forgotten-American revolutionaries influenced generations of progressive activists to come. Absolutely hilarious and touching when it needs to be, Collins shows us once again that history is first and foremost about people, not dates or places. Hands down the best book I've read in the past year.
November 8, 2018
I started to read this in anticipation of including the tale of Tom Paine’s grave-robbed bones on my Haunted History Ghost Walk in October of 2018 in Bordentown, NJ. The first tours began in late September and continued through Halloween. In the meantime, my daughter Eve was born, and since I began it there just hasn’t been much time to sit and read this book. But, I write this as Eve snoozes on my chest, and I’m glad to say that I finally finished. Thanks to my distracted state of late, though, I can’t write much of a review; I’ll simply say that the book is humorous in parts, well researched, and recommended for those who would like to follow a series of seemingly unrelated threads of history as they come together to form an unlikely story about the missing body of a radical whose words and thoughts helped establish the United States. The author weaves a tapestry of tales about the strange afterlife and times of Thomas Paine, and the individuals who followed in his footsteps.
September 14, 2017
I picked up the book originally researching Thomas Paine's reasons behind his notable quote rejecting the reasonableness of tolerance. What I found was a lot more of a fascinating story, a man reviled by so many (even the Quakers) and yet remembered fondly for his radical rationalism.
September 2, 2017
What a pleasant journey this book was! Detective novel, travel journey, history book and diary.
January 4, 2010
There's something very Sarah Vowell-ish about this book - a fond traipsing around America (and beyond) in search of the history behind sites and stones and monuments (and in this instance, bones) in which the author reflects as much on what brought us to any particular moment, and what culture is making of that moment, as on the alleged subject. That's not a criticism - I found this absorbing, and even charming in places - I'm not sure I needed to know all this about what happened to Tom Paine's body after he died, but since I'm so very fond of his prose (and that, in and of itself, is something of a cultural miracle) perhaps it's fitting that I know his body's legacy as well as that owned by his words.
There were a couple of places where Collins made me uncomfortable - slightly too . . . nice an analysis of race relations in the 19th century, for example (and nice truly is the word I need - it was insipid rather than lacking entirely; pretty rather than deep). I would have also appreciated an analysis of why it was men who kept buying Tom Paine's bones - what did that say about money, property, wills, and the relative political positions of the sexes (quite aside from their racial and religious identities) that women were never at the heart of this mess?
There were a couple of places where Collins made me uncomfortable - slightly too . . . nice an analysis of race relations in the 19th century, for example (and nice truly is the word I need - it was insipid rather than lacking entirely; pretty rather than deep). I would have also appreciated an analysis of why it was men who kept buying Tom Paine's bones - what did that say about money, property, wills, and the relative political positions of the sexes (quite aside from their racial and religious identities) that women were never at the heart of this mess?
April 5, 2022
I enjoyed this book (recommended by a friend) but I’m not at all sure how to describe it. It’s not about Tom Paine or his ideas and publications, although there are little bits and pieces about that. It’s more about the insanely peculiar things that happened to his remains after he died. But, it’s not really about that either, it’s more about the various people who had something to do with his remains. Except actually, many of the people in the book had nothing to do with Paine’s remains, they just interacted with other people who did have something to do with the remains, or even a few steps further away from that. And it’s about the author, researching all this madness and visiting the current day locations where some of this stuff happened.
It’s fun to read, there’s lots of weird history involved, some famous people (like Thoreau and Emerson) and some real kooks and oddballs who got involved somehow. Also a lot about phrenology, which evidently was very popular for a while.
It’s fun to read, there’s lots of weird history involved, some famous people (like Thoreau and Emerson) and some real kooks and oddballs who got involved somehow. Also a lot about phrenology, which evidently was very popular for a while.
July 18, 2019
I read the writings of Thomas Paine in high school and many of his ideas have stuck with me to this day. This book promised to be different, being that it was a biography that begins after the death of the subject. It didn’t disappoint. It followed the bones of Paine, which had been dug up and taken back to England shortly after his death in 1809. What the book really becomes is a chronicle of those who possessed ( or claimed to possess) them and how Paine’s writing and ideology continued to live on in these people. The book included abolitionists, theologians, writers, inventors, doctors and feminists just to name a few. It illustrates the power of words.
February 1, 2023
Book rating 3.5 stars
Not really a biography of Thomas Paine as the author follows where Paine's bones have appeared in the years after his death. Along the way we meet all sorts of people that are associated, and brief biographies of most. We have moments of modern times and compare the current state of that place with what it was like in the past, when Paine was there, or some of his bones.
One person discussed the most is Moncure D. Conway, a minister who published Paine's works. We also encounter Margret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain and some phrenologists.
Wasn't exactly what I expected from the book, but I'm not unhappy I read it.
Listened to the audiobook.
Not really a biography of Thomas Paine as the author follows where Paine's bones have appeared in the years after his death. Along the way we meet all sorts of people that are associated, and brief biographies of most. We have moments of modern times and compare the current state of that place with what it was like in the past, when Paine was there, or some of his bones.
One person discussed the most is Moncure D. Conway, a minister who published Paine's works. We also encounter Margret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain and some phrenologists.
Wasn't exactly what I expected from the book, but I'm not unhappy I read it.
Listened to the audiobook.
February 16, 2023
The Trouble with Tom by Paul Collins 1/16/2023 Paper
I probably knew less about Thomas Paine than any of the school-remembered names of the players in our nation’s struggle for independence. I picked up this book, assuming it was a biography of that man. While biographical information was presented, most of the book chronicled the authors search for his remains. I struggled to hold on to the story line but it failed to hold my interest. While I respect the influence of Paine’s writings, I didn’t find this book engaging enough that I could recommend, either as a history or for general reading.
I probably knew less about Thomas Paine than any of the school-remembered names of the players in our nation’s struggle for independence. I picked up this book, assuming it was a biography of that man. While biographical information was presented, most of the book chronicled the authors search for his remains. I struggled to hold on to the story line but it failed to hold my interest. While I respect the influence of Paine’s writings, I didn’t find this book engaging enough that I could recommend, either as a history or for general reading.
November 30, 2023
Collins's writing style has a tendency to irritate me. It's too elliptical and at the same time often sarcastic so the actual truth of the scene, statement is not easy to discern quite often. His worse tendencies were turned up to 11 on this and the subject matter here is so surprisingly weird that I was a bit lost often in here. It is even more frustrating because I was really interested in all the weird facts and stories that he digs up in here(John Brown and much of the country was in thrall of phrenology) and I couldn't really appreciate because it was so confusingly written. Frustrating but could work for others.
January 28, 2018
The very first paragraph made me belly laugh. The author cleverly weaves me back and forth from current times to distant 1800s, from New York to London. Back and forth he reveals the macabre culture of medical and spiritual enlightenment all the while following Paine’s traveling bones. I learned a lot and enjoyed this read.
"HERE LIES THE BODY OF JOHN CROW,
WHO ONCE WAS HIGH, BUT NOW IS LOW.
YE BROTHER CROWS TAKE WARNING ALL,
FOR AS YOU RISE, SO MUST YOU FALL." - THOMAS PAIN
"HERE LIES THE BODY OF JOHN CROW,
WHO ONCE WAS HIGH, BUT NOW IS LOW.
YE BROTHER CROWS TAKE WARNING ALL,
FOR AS YOU RISE, SO MUST YOU FALL." - THOMAS PAIN
February 17, 2025
WoW! Good Story
This was very interesting to me. The fact that a man’s bones can inspire so much much and travel so far and get lost so well is mind blowing. The history is what I love the most. I probably never would have heard of these people had I not read this book, but now that I have I am very much eager to read more by each author mentioned.
This was very interesting to me. The fact that a man’s bones can inspire so much much and travel so far and get lost so well is mind blowing. The history is what I love the most. I probably never would have heard of these people had I not read this book, but now that I have I am very much eager to read more by each author mentioned.
July 2, 2017
Oh my... I truly loved this book... Small, quirky, well written... fascinating period-ivia... I bought it at the checkout line at the Dollar Store, of all places... Since then I've bought all the rest they had to give away. If you like to read - this is your next favorite...
Dr. Frey
Dr. Frey
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January 6, 2013Paul Collins writes:
He did still have some visitors to break up his loneliness, though. His old friend John Stewart was in the city for a while, and - how time was changing him! Strange to think of all that had passed since their days together in London, reading the day's papers and philosophizing until the wee hours of the morning at the White Bear coffeehouse on Piccadilly. Back in 1790, Stewart had been perhaps the only man in London who could draw more stares than Paine himself. Tall, muscular, and exotic, Stewart had lived the kind of life found only in adventure fiction. He'd shipped out to Madras as a young clerk for the East India Company in 1763, only to decide that - as he announced brusquely in a letter to company directors - he was "born for nobler pursuits than to be a copier of invoices and bills of landing to a company of grocers, haberdashers, and cheese-mongers." And he was right: joining an Indian prince as a secretary, he rose through the ranks to become an army general and a prime minister - before, incredibly, throwing it all over to walk on foot through the mountains of Persia and Turkey, the deserts of Arabia and Egypt, deep into Ethiopia and into the terra incognita of central Africa, and then back around the Adriatic and Mediterranean to Paris. When he reached London, he was dubbed by the incredulous press "Walking Stewart." Never was there a more apt name; for he later hiked through Lapland and down into central Asia, and after sailing to New York walked all the way down to Paraguay. Walking Stewart became, as his friend Thomas De Quincey put it, the first circumambulator of the globe. Stewart attributed his survival to two things that struck anyone else back then as incomprehensible: a vegetarian diet, and an utter refusal to ever carry a weapon.
Yes, they'd made quite a pair back then. Paine, a failed grocer and customs officer who had moved to America and overthrown the monarchy, and Stewart, who paraded through Piccadilly in Armenian garb, his mannerisms mixed with those of all the exotic lands he'd walked through, and his speech and accent now a mélange from the innumerable languages he'd learned. It was muttered among onlookers that Paine had become some sort of inventor, going about trying to sell iron bridges - and Stewart, well, nobody knew quite what to make of him at all. The man wouldn't talk of his fantastic travels; instead, he was always distributing bizarre pamphlets he'd privately printed, bearing titles like The Roll of a Tennis Ball Through the Moral World. The few who could read past their strange diction and publication date - for Stewart had invented his own calendar - found all sorts of curious ideas inside. Stewart found it incomprehensible that women put up with child care, and believed the state should establish daytime nurseries so that mothers and fathers might work or improve their minds. He saw nothing wrong with prostitution, and considered it a typical city business like lamplighting or driving a taxi - indeed, he saw little wrong with sex, and so believed there should be "promiscuous intercourse... that the population might not be come redundant."
And now, as they sat aged in Manhattan, Paine and his old friend still warmly disagreed on many issues: Walking Stewart had always been dubious of Paine's cries for overthrowing kings, and he thought Paine's support of voting rights was absurd. What would it come to, Stewart scoffed - giving the vote to women and apprentices as well? And while Stewart was a confirmed atheist, Paine still believed in a God - in an animating moral force, if you will - he just didn't believe in the Bible or in clergy.
But they were both misunderstood geniuses of a sort; Paine found his books banned in England and despised in America, and Stewart brooded over the fate of his own pamphlets as well. He had a notion, he said, of preserving them for posterity. Stewart bid his readers, when done reading him, to bury his books in their gardens at a depth of seven or eight feet. They were to tell no one else of the location; but then, on their deathbeds, they were to breathe the secret to a trusted few. These fellows would keep the secret burial place until their deathbeds years later, and would communicate it again - down though the centuries, and the millennia, a secret society of philosophers passing down at death the sacred memory of the locations of Stewart's writings. Oh - the Circumambulator then feared - but what if someday my works prove unreadable because the English language itself has moldered away by then? He thereupon decided that first his readers should translate the works into Latin, then bury them.
Paine watched his strange friend return to England. Poor John! a traveling ascetic whose only real pleasure had been in music - the man was going deaf now. Their times were drawing near now... too near, in fact. Word came back from across the ocean months later that Stewart's ship had been dashed to pieces on its way to Liverpool. It sounded like he hadn't survived, hadn't even had the chance to pass on his secret burial spots to his brotherhood.
He did still have some visitors to break up his loneliness, though. His old friend John Stewart was in the city for a while, and - how time was changing him! Strange to think of all that had passed since their days together in London, reading the day's papers and philosophizing until the wee hours of the morning at the White Bear coffeehouse on Piccadilly. Back in 1790, Stewart had been perhaps the only man in London who could draw more stares than Paine himself. Tall, muscular, and exotic, Stewart had lived the kind of life found only in adventure fiction. He'd shipped out to Madras as a young clerk for the East India Company in 1763, only to decide that - as he announced brusquely in a letter to company directors - he was "born for nobler pursuits than to be a copier of invoices and bills of landing to a company of grocers, haberdashers, and cheese-mongers." And he was right: joining an Indian prince as a secretary, he rose through the ranks to become an army general and a prime minister - before, incredibly, throwing it all over to walk on foot through the mountains of Persia and Turkey, the deserts of Arabia and Egypt, deep into Ethiopia and into the terra incognita of central Africa, and then back around the Adriatic and Mediterranean to Paris. When he reached London, he was dubbed by the incredulous press "Walking Stewart." Never was there a more apt name; for he later hiked through Lapland and down into central Asia, and after sailing to New York walked all the way down to Paraguay. Walking Stewart became, as his friend Thomas De Quincey put it, the first circumambulator of the globe. Stewart attributed his survival to two things that struck anyone else back then as incomprehensible: a vegetarian diet, and an utter refusal to ever carry a weapon.
Yes, they'd made quite a pair back then. Paine, a failed grocer and customs officer who had moved to America and overthrown the monarchy, and Stewart, who paraded through Piccadilly in Armenian garb, his mannerisms mixed with those of all the exotic lands he'd walked through, and his speech and accent now a mélange from the innumerable languages he'd learned. It was muttered among onlookers that Paine had become some sort of inventor, going about trying to sell iron bridges - and Stewart, well, nobody knew quite what to make of him at all. The man wouldn't talk of his fantastic travels; instead, he was always distributing bizarre pamphlets he'd privately printed, bearing titles like The Roll of a Tennis Ball Through the Moral World. The few who could read past their strange diction and publication date - for Stewart had invented his own calendar - found all sorts of curious ideas inside. Stewart found it incomprehensible that women put up with child care, and believed the state should establish daytime nurseries so that mothers and fathers might work or improve their minds. He saw nothing wrong with prostitution, and considered it a typical city business like lamplighting or driving a taxi - indeed, he saw little wrong with sex, and so believed there should be "promiscuous intercourse... that the population might not be come redundant."
And now, as they sat aged in Manhattan, Paine and his old friend still warmly disagreed on many issues: Walking Stewart had always been dubious of Paine's cries for overthrowing kings, and he thought Paine's support of voting rights was absurd. What would it come to, Stewart scoffed - giving the vote to women and apprentices as well? And while Stewart was a confirmed atheist, Paine still believed in a God - in an animating moral force, if you will - he just didn't believe in the Bible or in clergy.
But they were both misunderstood geniuses of a sort; Paine found his books banned in England and despised in America, and Stewart brooded over the fate of his own pamphlets as well. He had a notion, he said, of preserving them for posterity. Stewart bid his readers, when done reading him, to bury his books in their gardens at a depth of seven or eight feet. They were to tell no one else of the location; but then, on their deathbeds, they were to breathe the secret to a trusted few. These fellows would keep the secret burial place until their deathbeds years later, and would communicate it again - down though the centuries, and the millennia, a secret society of philosophers passing down at death the sacred memory of the locations of Stewart's writings. Oh - the Circumambulator then feared - but what if someday my works prove unreadable because the English language itself has moldered away by then? He thereupon decided that first his readers should translate the works into Latin, then bury them.
Paine watched his strange friend return to England. Poor John! a traveling ascetic whose only real pleasure had been in music - the man was going deaf now. Their times were drawing near now... too near, in fact. Word came back from across the ocean months later that Stewart's ship had been dashed to pieces on its way to Liverpool. It sounded like he hadn't survived, hadn't even had the chance to pass on his secret burial spots to his brotherhood.
October 11, 2018
This is a tough book to review. I guess if I could only say one thing about it, I'd say I wish a woman had written it. Only a dude would go down so many unnecessary paths as this guy did.
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January 31, 2023More of a personal essay than I was expecting, but certainly interesting.
May 18, 2025
A rare book I couldn't finish. The author has a weird fixation with describing buildings as sex objects.
July 27, 2014
I find that the more I learn out about Thomas Paine, the more intriguing of a figure of history he becomes. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a biography that does him proper justice. For, he was both equally a wonderfully principled and admirable patriot as well as something of a rather despicable and greatly reviled Bukowski-like character. To find a truthful and accurate accounting of his life that balances this disparity of his character has proved difficult for me. In the meanwhile, I’ve found this wonderful book that deals with the truly bizarre afterlife of the man.
That’s right, his afterlife! For, not only did Thomas shape and influence the ultimate direction of our present form of government while he still lived and breathed but also even long after he took his last breath he is seen to have nearly just as much effect on history in a variety of surprising ways. Oddly, this all comes about through one of his most fiercest enemies who in a somewhat shocking change of heart towards the man dug up the mortal remains of Thomas Paine out of a deep reverence for him. His goal was to triumphantly return him to his birthplace of England and give him the honor he was due. Unfortunately, this misguided yet somehow affectionate plan didn’t pan out and the bones of the great philosopher ended up shelved in a box and were forgotten.
Afterwards, the path that these bones take and the lives they touch are documented in this little book and makes up for some of the most engrossing tales ever told. However, despite the amazing details of this story I initially questioned whether this author was actually the right person for this job. This may have been partly my own high expectation of finally finding a good book about Thomas Paine but largely I feel that it was more due to the style of writing that the author uses to present this story.
Of course, this also might fall under my own expectations as well. I was hoping for more of a typical straightforward historical approach rather than what is seen here. The author, Paul Collins, is clearly a very clever and well-educated writer. Maybe, too much for his own good. He presents this story in something of a loosely connected narrative told almost as if by a time-traveler with something like a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy improbability drive attached to it.
The button that operates this time machine of his seems to sends him to different times and places in this sprawling maze of a story in ridiculously and jarringly unconnected places. I found this extremely frustrating and unnecessary at first but the story is just too good to put down over such quibbling complaints and in the end I finally warmed up to it.
At times, this manner of telling the story shows itself to be absolutely brilliant and other times seems rather corny and old-fashioned. In the end, it may have been the best way to approach such an insanely diverse subject matter as this but despite its flaws it ends up becoming a rather satisfying read regardless.
Moreover, the tangled web of participants in this story concerning Tom’s bones grows exponentially larger as over the years bits and fragments of his remains are seen to take divergent paths. This complicates the narrative even further for the investigation is not just looking for a single corpse but any number of its different parts in a variety of places. In the end, one can only hope for some sort of resolution to this tale after so many detours but it becomes clear with the ever dwindling pieces of him going ever which way that the prospect of this is essentially hopeless.
Needless to say, having taken us on this fascinating yet morbid tour of history the author owes his readers some semblance of a conclusion and thankfully he does manage to come up with one. It might not exactly be what one could hope for but it is the best one could expect considering the prospects. At the very least, this book introduces us to such a vast array of fascinating characters, many of who are worthy of having books written solely about themselves, that the journey itself ultimately becomes its own reward. With some allowances and a little patience this book delivers a compelling saga that is unquestionably worth all “the trouble with Tom” brings.
That’s right, his afterlife! For, not only did Thomas shape and influence the ultimate direction of our present form of government while he still lived and breathed but also even long after he took his last breath he is seen to have nearly just as much effect on history in a variety of surprising ways. Oddly, this all comes about through one of his most fiercest enemies who in a somewhat shocking change of heart towards the man dug up the mortal remains of Thomas Paine out of a deep reverence for him. His goal was to triumphantly return him to his birthplace of England and give him the honor he was due. Unfortunately, this misguided yet somehow affectionate plan didn’t pan out and the bones of the great philosopher ended up shelved in a box and were forgotten.
Afterwards, the path that these bones take and the lives they touch are documented in this little book and makes up for some of the most engrossing tales ever told. However, despite the amazing details of this story I initially questioned whether this author was actually the right person for this job. This may have been partly my own high expectation of finally finding a good book about Thomas Paine but largely I feel that it was more due to the style of writing that the author uses to present this story.
Of course, this also might fall under my own expectations as well. I was hoping for more of a typical straightforward historical approach rather than what is seen here. The author, Paul Collins, is clearly a very clever and well-educated writer. Maybe, too much for his own good. He presents this story in something of a loosely connected narrative told almost as if by a time-traveler with something like a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy improbability drive attached to it.
The button that operates this time machine of his seems to sends him to different times and places in this sprawling maze of a story in ridiculously and jarringly unconnected places. I found this extremely frustrating and unnecessary at first but the story is just too good to put down over such quibbling complaints and in the end I finally warmed up to it.
At times, this manner of telling the story shows itself to be absolutely brilliant and other times seems rather corny and old-fashioned. In the end, it may have been the best way to approach such an insanely diverse subject matter as this but despite its flaws it ends up becoming a rather satisfying read regardless.
Moreover, the tangled web of participants in this story concerning Tom’s bones grows exponentially larger as over the years bits and fragments of his remains are seen to take divergent paths. This complicates the narrative even further for the investigation is not just looking for a single corpse but any number of its different parts in a variety of places. In the end, one can only hope for some sort of resolution to this tale after so many detours but it becomes clear with the ever dwindling pieces of him going ever which way that the prospect of this is essentially hopeless.
Needless to say, having taken us on this fascinating yet morbid tour of history the author owes his readers some semblance of a conclusion and thankfully he does manage to come up with one. It might not exactly be what one could hope for but it is the best one could expect considering the prospects. At the very least, this book introduces us to such a vast array of fascinating characters, many of who are worthy of having books written solely about themselves, that the journey itself ultimately becomes its own reward. With some allowances and a little patience this book delivers a compelling saga that is unquestionably worth all “the trouble with Tom” brings.
May 27, 2014
A most curious and enlightening study of post-colonial American culture, and the lingering intellectual effects of Revolutionary thinking on the American psyche. The author traces the weird history of Tom Paine's body, buried, dug up, taken back to England, gradually dismembered, lost, found, parceled out hither and yon, all the while continuing to interest a wide range of thinkers up through the late 19th century. A very entertaining account of progressive thinking during a time of growing puritanical conformity.
A strangely structured book, but very entertaining and always worth continuing to figure out the balance between the current day sleuthing and the reconstruction of the historical characters and situations. It certainly made me want to look up "Common Sense" and see what I missed.
I will remember the presentation of phrenology as a widely accepted way of understanding human behavior, even as its quackery was apparent for all to see. One cannot help but ponder what sort of quackery we are accepting nowadays as scientific breakthroughs.
A strangely structured book, but very entertaining and always worth continuing to figure out the balance between the current day sleuthing and the reconstruction of the historical characters and situations. It certainly made me want to look up "Common Sense" and see what I missed.
I will remember the presentation of phrenology as a widely accepted way of understanding human behavior, even as its quackery was apparent for all to see. One cannot help but ponder what sort of quackery we are accepting nowadays as scientific breakthroughs.
July 25, 2024
Although the title gives the impression this is a tale about Thomas Paine's remains, it isn't. Instead, it's about a sequence of Thomas Paine-inspired, eccentric free thinkers that were far ahead of their time in their respective fields. I found a lot of these individuals extremely interesting and like-minded, but, honestly, I can't believe this book was published. It's a very boutique topic and a bit erratically executed. The worst part of the writing is the author's ad nauseam tendency to introduce a new person as if they're were mentioned ealier in the book, only to explain exactly who this person is and why they are important a page or two later. Maybe that's interesting one time, but fifteen? Twenty? The author must have some pretty high-level connections in the publishing world to have pulled off this one. Check it out only if you're interested in the legacy of Thomas Paine and/or rationalism in the 18th and 19th centuries.
September 16, 2025
non conoscevo thomas paine, essendo molto ignorante in storia inglese e americana malgrado i miei studi, ma conoscevo paul collins, autore di un libro che mi era molto piaciuto (not even wrong). sapevo che collins è uno storico e pensavo di immaginare a cosa andavo incontro scegliendo questo suo libro. mi sbagliavo: non ho mai trovato la storia raccontata in questo modo, apparentemente disordinato, spassoso e appassionante. seguendo le sorti degli sparsi resti mortali di thomas paine e delle sue idee progressiste - sull'uguaglianza sociale, i diritti delle donne, il pacifismo, il vegetarianesimo e, ahimè, la frenologia - si incontrano personaggi come benjamin franklin, mark twain e h.d. thoreau, solo per fare qualche esempio. e si assiste al travagliato progresso della libertà di stampa, dell'abolizionismo e di altri aspetti della democrazia negli stati uniti e in inghilterra. è un vortice che ti risucchia e ti risputa fuori esausto e sorridente.
July 30, 2012
If you like getting the story behind the story, if you like meandering narratives that are more of sweeping floodlights than concentrated hi-beams, if you like history but don't like the way you were taught history in high school, if you like writers with unique voices, check this book out. To me, this is what history should be about — making the connections between seemingly disparate things.
Through goodreads, I found out Paul Collins teaches at PSU. I didn't know that while I was there, though I was in the History dept. and he is an English professor. That fact gives him the latitude to write on history as he does. Not that skilled historians can't do the same, however in lesser hands the burden of accurate citation and academic reference can lead to insipid prose.
Through goodreads, I found out Paul Collins teaches at PSU. I didn't know that while I was there, though I was in the History dept. and he is an English professor. That fact gives him the latitude to write on history as he does. Not that skilled historians can't do the same, however in lesser hands the burden of accurate citation and academic reference can lead to insipid prose.
January 19, 2014
The e-book of this is so incredibly poorly copy-edited that it constantly distracted me from the text itself--misspellings so bad that you cannot tell what the word is supposed to be, as if the text were scanned from print by a computer, as opposed to the sort of phonetic misspellings a human writer produces. The basic book itself was, i suppose, interesting enough, but i was shocked at the poor quality of the e-text itself. Maybe this is not the case in the print version? Regardless, the e-book reads like a free public domain PDF from Project Gutenberg. Too bad i paid retail price for a new book because i feel like i got some charity scanner copy. Try the pulp version.
February 24, 2016
What an interesting book! It really doesn't tell much about the living Thomas Paine, but it follows a search for Paine's remains, which were refused burial, finally buried, dug up and stolen, transported to England, transferred through several hands, and.... Well, you'll have to read it to find out. This heavily researched non-fiction book also provides information about many of the strange "medical" practices of the mid-19th century. Paine was one of the first "progressives," and his acolytes worked for the abolition of slavery, women's rights, child labor laws, and other progressive items. Many well known figures appear in the book.
August 15, 2007
I had been meaning to read some biographies lately, and this was one of the more interesting ones I'd come across. Big ups to moms for recommending it to me. Historian Paul Collins travels the globe in search for Thomas Paine's bones. In the process, we learn about democracy, liberty, transcendentalism, and phrenology. I learned a thing or two that I didn't know before (such as that Tom Paine was the guy who first coined the words "The United States of America") which is all I could ask for in a non-fiction book.
January 2, 2008
The real star of the book is Moncure Conway who seemed to manage a meeting however brief with practically every name author of the 19th century (Stowe, Darwin, Whitman, Poe, Twain, Emerson, Thoreau).
Collins manages adept transition between the historical aspects of the tale and his own modern trampings after Paine's remains, but the payoff is like the payoff in a p.i. novel. The getting there is the bang for the buck.
Breifly - If Chuck Klosterman ever wrote a book about a founding father, this would be it.
Collins manages adept transition between the historical aspects of the tale and his own modern trampings after Paine's remains, but the payoff is like the payoff in a p.i. novel. The getting there is the bang for the buck.
Breifly - If Chuck Klosterman ever wrote a book about a founding father, this would be it.
May 28, 2010
I really enjoyed this book. It was suprisingly interesting. Often books written about historical political figures are quite dry, even if the people themselves were interesting. This book manages to keep you interested in:
Thomas and his role in history
His bones
The people who swipe/store/save/buy/trade/misuse his bones
How changes in society affected how Tom was seen and how his bones were treated
The author's search for Tom's bones.
This book was well written, and I recommend it for folks interested in history.
Thomas and his role in history
His bones
The people who swipe/store/save/buy/trade/misuse his bones
How changes in society affected how Tom was seen and how his bones were treated
The author's search for Tom's bones.
This book was well written, and I recommend it for folks interested in history.
March 5, 2010
Who knew that Thomas Paine was so reviled and hated during his lifetime and that his body was dug up and traveled all over creation during the 19th century? This book details the wanderings of the bones of the author of "Common Sense" and while doing so introduces a wacky set of radicals: phrenologists, Muggletonians, Octagonists,transcendentalists, and early advocates of such notions as rights for women, birth control, and vegetarianism. This book could pass as fiction, but it's not.
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