Thomas Paine: Crusader for Liberty by Albert Marrin (review)

Marrin’s engaging offering, part biography and part intellectual history, introduces a historical figure who’s a lot more interesting and relevant than readers might have guessed. There’s plenty to booktalk here, from Paine’s personal life (the failed marriage he would never discuss), to his influence in two revolutions (his writing may have underpinned the French Revolution, but he barely escaped France with his life), to his death (drunken and friendless) and its aftermath (his remains were scattered and eventually disappeared). Marrin focuses on three of Paine’s major documents, “Common Sense,” “Rights of Man,” and “Age of Reason,” pulling meaningful quotations for closer examination that demonstrate why revolutionaries loved him, soldiers cheered him, mainstream religion despised him, and presidents continue to cite him. Black and white period reproductions enhance the spacious layout, and source notes, a bibliography, and index round out the text.