
Thomas Paine
Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations
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Narrated by:
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Paul Hecht
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By:
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Craig Nelson
John Adams told Thomas Jefferson that “history is to ascribe the American Revolution to Thomas Paine.” Thomas Edison called him “the equal of Washington in making American liberty possible.” He was a founder of both the United States and the French Revolution. He invented the phrase, “The United States of America.” He rose from abject poverty in working-class England to the highest levels of the era’s intellectual elite. And yet, by the end of his life, Thomas Paine was almost universally reviled. He had run afoul of Washington, broke with Robespierre and narrowly escaped the guillotine, and was all but exiled from his native England.
©2006 Craig Nelson (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...




















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Democracy is fragile
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great book about a forgotten founding father
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Enlightening Biography
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Seems like bad PR followed Thomas Paine's name up until the present time. Nelson does a fine job at explaining why and how this happened, and for anyone who wants to get the whole story about the American Revolution, they simply must listen/read this book. You won't regret it! Then download Common Sense.
This man should be a household name!
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A True Hero Amongst the Pantheon of Heroes
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I have not yet read "Common Sense" or "Rights of Man" but look forward to doing so now having this historical context.
Paine and more...
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This is vivid, personal, you-are-there history. I feel like I learned a lot (pleasantly), and was sad when the book ended. Perhaps, the author and his publisher will consider picking up the narrative somewhere around the time of Paine's death ... with a treatment of the life and times of someone else who, like Paine, probably ought to be better known today.Any additional comments?
Vivid.
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Fantastic Book
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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Two significant problems, one with the source material (the book) and the other with the narrator. The book itself is poorly suited to being turned into audio-book format. It does not present a clear narrative line, but often includes long stretches of only partially relevant quote from original sources. It also frequently goes off on a tangent to follow secondary characters influencing Paine's life. These may work in print, but disrupt the narrative flow in audio format.To add to those problems, the narrator frequently pauses at the wrong point, separating sentences where there is no separation. At many points I had to post-analyze what had been said to figure out what had been meant.
Overall, this audio-book is not so bad that I won't finish listening, but it is a major disappointment compared to other history books I have heard.
Disappointing Book and Performance
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