The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine

The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine

by PaulCollins (Author)

Synopsis

The author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man , a radical on the run from the law in London, a founding father of the United States of America, a senator of revolutionary France, Thomas Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern democracies. He was a walking revolution in human form - the most dangerous man alive. But in death, Paine's story turns truly bizarre - his bones were taken from New York to London and eventually disappeared. In Paris, London and New York, in bars, grocers, shops and national libraries, crossing paths along the way with, among others, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, William Cobbett, Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin and even Lord Bryon, Paul Collins sets himself the challenge of finding out what happened to Paine's bones, and ends up telling one of the most extraordinary stories of modern history.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 02 Jan 2006

ISBN 10: 0747577684
ISBN 13: 9780747577683
Book Overview: An entertaining look at the life of one of the most famous and influential men - author of The Rights of Man - ever to have lived Widespread review coverage guaranteed for this accessible, enduring subject

Media Reviews
Praise for Paul Collins' NOT EVEN WRONG' 'Few things are more heartbreaking than learning that your child is destined to be an outsider...Collins conveys this sad truth beautifully...[A] fascinating portrait of his son' Entertainment Weekly 'Collins elucidates, with great compassion, what it means to be normal and what it means to be human' Los Angeles Times 'A genre-bending spellbinder' Newsday Praise for Paul Collins' Sixpence House 'Collins muses on antiquarian books the way the rest of us remember lost loves' San Francisco Chronicle
Author Bio
Paul Collins is the author of Sixpence House and Not Even Wrong: A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism. He edits the Collins Library for McSweeney's Books, and his work has appeared in New Scientist, the Village Voice, and Business 2.0.