Thomas Paine: Collected Writings (Library of America)

This is the first major new selection of Thomas Paine’s writings in 50 years and the most comprehensive edition available. Emphasizing his American career, it brings together the best-known works—Common Sense, The American Crisis, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason—with scores of letters, articles, and pamphlets, several previously uncollected. Paine’s writings played a central role in the struggle for American independence and in the democratic revolution that swept the western world in the late 18th century. He gave new, modern meanings to words like “republic,” “democracy,” and “revolution” itself, while setting forth a vision of America as an asylum for freedom and democratic self-government. A profound believer in the ability of common people to reason and act in politics, Paine was the first major pamphleteer to address his writings to a mass audience. More than two centuries after they were written, his words are still remarkable for their vigor, clarity, and ability to inspire.