Rights of Man

History has come to regard him as the figure who gave political cogency to the liberating ideas of the Enlightenment, and his great pamphlets, Common Sense and Rights of Man, are seen as classic arguments in defense of the individual's right to assert his or her freedom in the face of tyranny.

Rights of Man presents an impassioned defense of the Enlightenment principles of freedom and equality that Thomas Paine believed would soon sweep the world. He boldly claimed, "From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen, not to be extinguished. Without consuming ... it winds its progress from nation to nation." Though many more sophisticated thinkers argued for the same principles and many people died in the attempt to realize them, no one was better able than Paine to articulate them in a way which fired the hopes and dreams of the common man and actually stirred him to revolutionary political action.

About the Author:
A participant in both the American and French Revolutions and in the governments that first arose from them, Thomas Paine is best remembered as the highly popular pamphleteer whose incendiary Common Sense was largely responsible for motivating the American colonists to declare independence. He was born in England on January 29, 1737, and his impoverished early life offered scant evidence of the qualities that would later elevate him to literary and historical prominence. Taking the first available opportunity to improve his lot, he moved to America in 1775, coincidentally arriving at the time when revolutionary fervor was just taking hold.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an author, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A participant in both the American and French Revolutions and in the governments that first arose from them, Paine is best remembered as the highly popular pamphleteer whose incendiary Common Sense was largely responsible for motivating the American colonists to declare independence. His other notable contributions are Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, Agrarian Justice, and The American Crisis, a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Arthur Morey has recorded over one hundred audiobooks, winning AudioFile Earphones and Best Voice Awards, as well as an Audie nomination. He has performed fiction by John Updike, John Irving, Richard Russo, Julie Orringer, and Jack Vance. Nonfiction titles include The Informant, Unlikely Allies, Citizens of London, and Munich 1938. Arthur attended Harvard University and the University of Chicago and has performed Off-Broadway, Off-Loop, and in Italy. He taught writing at Northwestern University for ten years and also works as an editor and ghostwriter.