The revolutionary spirit that runs through American history and whose founding father and greatest advocate was Thomas Paine is fiercely traced in Thomas Paine and the Promise of America. Showing how Paine turned Americans into radicals--and how we have remained radicals at heart ever since--Harvey J. Kaye presents the nation’s democratic story with wit, subtlety, and, above all, passion.

Paine was one of the most remarkable political writers of the modern world and the greatest radical of a radical age. Through writings like Common Sense--and words such as "The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth," "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," and "These are the times that try men’s souls"--he not only turned America’s colonial rebellion into a revolutionary war but, as Kaye demonstrates, articulated an American identity charged with exceptional purpose and promise.

Beginning with Paine’s life and ideas and following their vigorous influence through to our own day, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America reveals how, while the powers that be repeatedly sought to suppress, defame, and most recently co-opt Paine’s memory, generations of radical and liberal Americans turned to Paine for inspiration as they endeavored to expand American freedom, equality, and democracy.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 18 reviews)

Good Topic, Average Writing

Thomas Paine was a luminary, and one of the (if not the) most forward-thinking of his era. I am sure there is a definitive biography out there, waiting to be written, that will give us the true depth of this man.

Unfortunately, this is not it. This book gives little insight that any reader of Paine's works could not have gleaned on his/her own. The writing style tends to the pedantic, with awkward sentences and trite constructions.

The book does give a good starting point for a scholar who might be interested in real research into Paine's life.

Bottom line - the book is worth reading if you can pick it up in a used bookstore.
November 13, 2008

A great book with a hidden tragic story

This book takes a surprising amount of time to read due to the 'hidden' density of the writing. It is a superlative history of one of our most important founding fathers. The impact of 'Common Sense' by Paine simply can hardly over stated. This book is not a dry or boring read, it simply takes more time than I had expected.

The gnawing knowledge that America largely ditched Paine after he dutifully served his purpose is disturbing. He contributed the proceeds from Common Sense to buy mittens for our troops. When imprisoned in France and marked for execution, precisely noyone rode to the rescue. The reason that Paine was largely forgotten is that he had acquired a reputation for not being a man of solid faith. In spite of a remarkable literary career, Paine was destined to die a poor man with a poorly attended funeral. It does seem that he liked to imbibe in the spirits more than he ought to have.

Teddy Roosevelt went on to describe Paine as a "filthy little athiest". He was actually none of the above.

Paine and Samuel Adams suffered the same fate. Both were men of tremendous talent with the pen. Both worked tirelessly. Both played inestimable roles in our freedom. Both tend to be forgotten by mainstream historians. Neither one was an aristocrat. Are historians largely elitist snobs?
March 31, 2008

Estraordinary sense about Thomas Paine

I'm no Paine scholar - so I do not understand the quibbles. I love this book. Where today is the person who touches the human heart to stoke that which is already in us, as Paine did? I find the progressive candidates both ring the same (negative) bell about not liking George, Jr. That, however, is a just a pull away from the negative. Where is the today's beckoning cry for that which is in the human heart? Thank you, dear author, for this offering.
March 25, 2008

A Timely Treasure

When I ordered this book I was thinking of updating my knowledge of one of that group of men we usually think of as our "forefathers"--the ones who were there at the birth of our nation. I got that AND SO MUCH MORE. In addition to learning more of Thomas Paine himself, I learned why he has never had the place of distinction and honor accorded others of his time despite his seemingly crucial activities in securing our independence. THEN, this fine historian takes the "essence" of this dynamic American, traces its ( and his) waxing and waning influence through the decades, and presents us with the need to re-capture, if we can, that zeal for maintaining our freedom and our "national theme" of a nation for the common good--for the common man. For me, anyway: A Masterpiece. The only drawback (if one can call it that): Now I MUST read ( and own) the basic works--in Thomas Paine's own words
January 28, 2008

Look elsewhere for a comprehensive history.

I was recently looking through the history shelves of a local book store when I saw the cover of this book staring at me. Recently I've been doing a lot more reading of history on the revolutionary generation and as a consequence I have been looking for biographies of the founders. Since Thomas Paine is someone I've long read and admired, and considering the positive reviews from Ellis and Hitchens on the back cover of this book, I decided I'd give it a try. Wrong move.

The first three or four chapters are a concise history of Paine, but Kaye hardly does the history any justice. He glosses over Paine's actual life and spends the last two thirds of the book giving a history of progressive and socialist movements in America. Apparently, in the eyes of Kaye, because Paine espoused liberal democratic views concerning government providing for the welfare of its citizens, no one but socialists and leftists can quote or admire him. How preposterous! Jefferson famously thought that the slaves should be free and realized the contradiction of fighting a revolution for liberty and keeping men in bondage, but he was a racist who thought blacks were inferior to whites and that the two races would never be able to coexist peacefully. None of that, though, prevents anyone from appreciating the Declaration of Independence any less and it certainly doesn't mean that only white supremacists and the Klu Klux Klan have the privilege of owning his legacy.

Anyone looking for a biography of Paine, or even an entertaining read concerning how his reputation has evolved since his lifetime, should stay away from this book.
January 10, 2008

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