This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This six volume set reproduces the complete writings of the London Corresponding Society (LCS) as well as other contemporary literature and parliamentary debates, and reports relating to the Society. The LCS was at the forefront of the call for political reform in the late 18th century.

This concise, thoughtful introduction to the work of Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense" and "Rights of Man," explores the impact of one of the most influential minds of the American and French Revolutions and the sources from which his thinking evolved.

In Jack Fruchtman Jr.'s helpful interpretation, Paine built his argument for radical revolution in 1776 on a study of nature and Providence and a belief in natural rights. Men and women owed it to themselves to break the chains of rank, hierarchy, and even organized religion in order to live freely, embracing the possibilities of invention, progress, and equality that lay ahead. In 1793, at the height of the French Revolution and its secularizing fury, Paine reminded readers that it was nature's God who created natural rights. The rights of man thus held out both the great potential of freedom and the requirement that human beings be responsible for those who were the least fortunate in society. On balance we may think of Paine as a secular preacher for the rule of reason.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809), the man who gave the name to the United States, became known as the Voice of the Revolution. Paine was one of the most radical and outspoken figures of the eighteenth century - an independent thinker on a level with Voltaire and Goethe. The self-educated former tax collector was famed for his fiery disposition and brilliant way with words in defense of liberty. A cabin boy on board a privateer, twice married, first an official and later a victim of the French revolutionary government, at odds with his fellow American rebels, and constantly beset by money problems, Paine lived a full and exciting life. In addition to his better known accomplishments, he designed bridges, a "smokeless candle" and a detailed plan for the invasion of Britain - and all this from a man who abruptly turned from being a craftsman to a statesman at the age of thirty-seven. Together with his colleagues Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Paine provided the philosophical underpinnings for the new nation. He is best known for his radical works The Age of Reason, Rights of Man, and, above all, Common Sense.