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Summary: They called it Common Sense
Review: Anyone who ever sat through a high school history class has heard of the writings of Thomas Paine. But how many of us know anything about the man, whose word changes the course of history. This book "46 Pages" is much mare than a rehash of the pamphlet; it is a store of the man who understood what America could be, and how to tell the population of the time.
I have read those 46 pages at least twice, because I was assigned to do so, once by my 12th grade history teacher, and than again the following year in a Political Science class I was taking. I must confess that although I understood the radical importance of the pamphlet, I wasn't impressed by the assignment. Had I had this book to have read first I would have felt very different.
Scott Liell managed in writing "46 Pages" to bring the man; Thomas Paine very much to life. It will help to make you understand the views that he held, and so able expressed in his many writings. Mr. Liell covers the subject with allowing it to become old; you will learn something new while reading this book.
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Summary: Keep It For Life
Review: I bought "46 PAGES" largely because of the warm endorsements it received from David McCullough and some other historians that I respect. Truth be told when I first opened this book I did not know a whole lot about the importance of Common Sense to the pivotal events of 1776 and I knew hardly anything about the extraordinary man who took the risk of writing such an incendiary work at such a critical time. I am, therefore, immeasurably grateful to both Mr. Liell and "46 PAGES" for filling what was a pretty substantial gap in my understanding of just how this country was changed so quickly from a group of colonies determined to work out their differences with Britain through negotiation and resistance to a new nation hell-bent on revolution and independence. Even George Washington who was then leading the Continental Army fully expected the conflict to end in reconciliation and NEVER TALKED OF INDEPENDENCE UNTIL AFTER HE READ "COMMON SENSE." Kudos to Thomas Paine who aught to have a statue built to him in every major city in the US. And Kudos to Mr. Liell for telling this extraordinary untold story in such elegant and compelling prose.
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Summary: Why was Thomas Pain & Common Sense so Pivitol?
Review: I found Scott Liell's treatment of Thomas Paine's, Common Sense very engaging. Having recently become a citizen of the United States (formerly Canadian) I've turned to reading U.S. history with focus on the founding. This was my first encounter with Paine's work. It thrilled me! His words fired me up and I was astounded to see it's sudden and expansive impact on the thought of the day. Liell's books was very readable and inspired me to read everything I could get my hands on the Paine wrote. Bravo!
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Summary: Importance of Independance
Review: It is important to state at the outset that Scott Liell's book is not a rehash of Common Sense, nor another retelling of Thomas Paine's rise to prominence and fall to obscurity, but rather a historical analysis of the cause and effects of Paine's booklet, and how completely it was circulated and read when the public was informed only through newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsheets.This short work would make a indispensable textbook for any course on the origins of the American Revolution, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Included are Paine's still relevant thoughts that, "Government is a necessary evil." And the early ridiculing of the thought that one family was more capable of ruling than another. But the most important revelation in this work is the idea that the colonists thoughts were not first and foremost on independence, but rather on dependance on the crown. Liell states that what the Continental Congress was proposing as late as 1775 was a declaration of dependance - self reliance far from the minds of the delegates. Jefferson's version of the declaration did not spring spontaneously from a blank page. The author also presents an interesting, non-intrusive format for endnotes, one I am not sure is enduring or helpful for in-depth researchers, but makes this volume more readable to the mass market. On the whole, if you think you know the history of the origins of American Independence, this book will open some interesting vistas.
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Summary: One man can make a difference
Review: Like the masterpiece itself, Scott Liell has produced a wonderful, consise and readable tribute to Common Sense and Tom Paine, THE spearhead of the independence movement in America. Paine was a simple workman-like fellow (and an Englishman) who changed the course of the world with a 46-page pamphlet written to the masses of the colonies in order to push the people away from reconciliation and towards independence from Britain. Like Paine, Liell's work is not scholarly, so it is an enjoyable read, and at less than 150 pages, easily digestable. This piece is an excellent primer to the true beginnings of the independence movement. While history books provide a footnote to Paine at best, Liell gives Paine (and rightfully so) the bulk of the credit for having the guts and ability to produce a work of such heroic proportions that it became the rallying cry of the massess, which ultimiately forced the hand of the Congress and state legislatures to push towards independence. Don't read this if you are looking for a dissection of Common Sense itself. What Liell provides is a simply history lesson behind its formulation and impact.
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Summary: Highly recommended for any reader, not just history buffs
Review: Scott Liell has written a concise and fascinating account of the importance Thomas Paine and Common Sense played in reshaping the attitudes of the colonists from one of fighting for reconciliation with Great Britain to one of fighting for independence. Reading Liell's book made me conclude that Common Sense, along with The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Emancipation Proclamation, is one of the most important documents in the history of our country. Not only was it important because of its content but also because of its ultimate audience. In the words of Moses Coit Taylor quoted in Liell's book, Common Sense "was precisely fitted to the hour, to the spot, to the passions of men.... It brushes away the tangles and cobwebs of technical debate, and flashes common sense upon the situation. It was meant for plain men, in desperate anger and desperately in earnest."
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Summary: Revolution From The Bottom Up
Review: Scott Liell's treatise on the genesis and impact of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is perhaps a bit repetitive, and perhaps a bit obvious to anyone familiar with the evolution of the Colonial Congress, but it does bring out the guiding principle that made American independence such a powerful symbol. This was a drive for independence which arose from the farmers and tradespeople, not the politicians -- and it was predicated on the principle that government should be "of the people, by the people and for the people." It was not just a revolution against the British monarchy, it was a revolution in thought, a paradigm shift, that people could and should govern themselves, and would do a better job of it than any inherited bloodline. These thoughts are just as revolutionary today, and still bear defending against modern advocates of aristocracies and plutocracies.
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Summary: A great american read
Review: This book resurrects Thomas Paine, the man of letters who helped launch the revolution and was subsequently forgotten by his contemporaries and dies penniless. Paine was the author of `Common Sense' a 46 page broadsheet that exhorted Americans to action and questioned the nature of English crown government in America. A very lucid and progressive pamphlet this manifesto came to be widely read and helped puch America over the edge of revolution. This great book includes `common sense' in a 46 page appendix and the many chapters detail its importance and the life of its extraordinary author. Anyone interested in American history, political economy, or revolution will enjoy this quick fast paced read.
Rating:
Summary: A great american read
Review: This book resurrects Thomas Paine, the man of letters who helped launch the revolution and was subsequently forgotten by his contemporaries and dies penniless. Paine was the author of 'Common Sense' a 46 page broadsheet that exhorted Americans to action and questioned the nature of English crown government in America. A very lucid and progressive pamphlet this manifesto came to be widely read and helped puch America over the edge of revolution. This great book includes 'common sense' in a 46 page appendix and the many chapters detail its importance and the life of its extraordinary author. Anyone interested in American history, political economy, or revolution will enjoy this quick fast paced read.
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