Common Sense / The Crisis / Other Writings from the American Revolution

Thomas Paine came to America in 1774. Within fourteen months of his arrival he published Common Sense, the revolutionary pamphlet that changed forever the course of American history. That extraordinary work is joined in this authoritative edition with The American Crisis — a masterpiece of political pamphleteering begun in 1776, during “the times that try men’s souls” — in which Paine vividly reports current developments and enjoins his readers to remember the immense stakes of their struggle. Rounding out the collection are a number of Paine’s other American writings, including letters to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and newspaper articles on a variety of subjects, from taxation and trade to the increasingly fractured politics of the new republic.