Rights of Man (Penguin American Library)

by Thomas Paine (Author), Eric Foner (Contributor), Henry Collins (Contributor)

• New

  Paperback
  1984

  $9.31

  One of the great classics on democracy, Rights of Man was published in England in 1791 as a vindication of the French Revolution and a critique of the British system of government. In direct, forceful prose, Paine defends popular rights, national independence, revolutionary war, and economic growth - all considered dangerous and even seditious issues. In his introduction Eric Foner presents an overview of Paine's career as political theorist and pamphleteer, and supplies essential background material to Rights of Man. He discusses how Paine created a language of modern politics that brought important issues to the common man and the working classes and assesses the debt owed to Paine by the American and British radical traditions.

• Used

  Paperback
  1969

  $3.26

• New

  Paperback
  1993

  $12.60

  Offering more detailed explanatory notes than earlier versions, this edition reprints together for the first time all of Paine's introductions to the versions published in his lifetime. In his own richly informed Introduction, Claeys elucidates the historical context and the subsequent influence of Paines text, as well as the major problems in interpreting Paines theory. Instructors will find this new edition a worthy counterpoint to the Hackett edition of Burkes Reflections on the Revolution in France, edited by J. G. A. Pocock.