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46 Pages

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A real page turner...I had to read the book in one sitting.
Before I purchased "46 Pages", Thomas Jefferson represented, to me, the voice of American independence. After reading this book, I see that I am wrong. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington would never have been able to persuade the "average colonial American" to break free from England. That required a man who could talk in the language of the street corner radical, who could burst the myth of American's attachment to the crown. That required Thomas Paine. Buy this book and discovery why so.

In this book Scott Liell examines the impact that Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" had on American sentiment and the move toward independence. Liell argues, and does so quite persuasively, that Common Sense is what finally tipped the balance in favor of those who wanted to break from Britain, and that the work was largely responsible for the enormous shift in sentiment that occurred between the Continental Congress's Olive Branch petition in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Common Sense was published in January, 1776, and met with immediate and unparalleled success. Liell's argument is that, before Common Sense, very few average people had a reason to want Independence, and that the pamphlet almost instantaneously gave them reason to want to break from Britain. Paine, he says, was bold enough to say things that even the ardent independents like John Adams were too timid to say, and that this helped turn the tide toward the ultimate decision to sever ties with the motherland.

Liell makes a good case. In all our focus on men like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin, we often overlook the impact Paine and his writing had on the revolutionary cause. This is a very short book and a quick read, but it is very much worth the effort. The work is part biography, part criticism of the pamphlet, and flows along very nicely. While it is a quick read Liell manages to make a powerful argument, one that is certainly worth looking at for anyone interested in the period.

In the year 1763, at the height of the First British Empire, an American colonist's greatest pride was to be the subject of an English king. For fifteen years thereafter, the ill-conceived policies of imperial ministers strained the bonds linking colonies and parent country to breaking point. Yet, even after the bloodshed at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, those bonds stubbornly refused to break.

By 1775, Americans were prepared to fight for their rights, and did so. But the great majority could not bring themselves to throw off the glittering mantle of the British Empire. King George III embodied the venerable heritage that was part of their identity, and few dared speak against their monarch in public--even the leaders of the Continental Congress. The enemies of America were "ministerial" enemies: a group of corrupt men in Whitehall had misled the king and stifled the complaints of his loyal American subjects. The king himself could not be a party to such injustice; if he could, everything they'd been taught to believe would be wrong. Willing satellites of the British sun for a century and a half, Americans now began to fear they were in captive orbit around a black hole. For most, it was simply too much to accept.

In the early days of 1776, Thomas Paine published "Common Sense," severing the colonists' nostalgic ties to their ancestral nation with sudden finality. That a political pamphlet, in a matter of months, could profoundly change the course of history was stunning to those who witnessed its impact at first hand. It is no less so today. In "46 Pages," Scott Liell explains how and why an Englishman accomplished what no American of the time could. He explores the critical events in Paine's background and the evolution of his radical beliefs. He isolates the compelling lines of thought radiating from the groundbreaking pamphlet, and demonstrates how they utterly effaced colonists' lingering notions of their system of government. Countless Americans picked up "Common Sense" believing themselves the dutiful children of an enlightened and glorious monarch. They put it down again seething with anger and contempt. Paine showed the colonists that what they had taken as day was in fact night; but after reading his words, they did not lament the realization. Their former beliefs exposed as idolatry, they were willing to part with them at last.

The author goes on to trace the powerful effects of "Common Sense" on its diverse audience: the Founding Fathers in Congress, the generals and common soldiers of the Continental Army, the average farmer in his field and tradesman in his shop. With force and clarity, he illustrates its decisive importance in convincing the colonists that their true interest, and best chance of securing their rights, lay in independence from Great Britain. Before "Common Sense," America had been fighting with one hand tied behind her back. From now on, her course would be clear, her energies focused.

Mr. Liell's account is engaging, scholarly and thoroughly illuminating. On the road to a true understanding of the American Revolution, "46 Pages" is an essential part of the journey.

Sad to say, this history teacher had never read Thomas Paine's famed pamphlet "Common Sense" until three days ago. I came across a stand-alone printing of the book and was prepared to buy it when I found "46 Pages".

The entire text of "Common Sense" (originally just 46 pages long, thus the title) is added as an appendix at the end of the book. I read the original text first and then proceeded to the first part of the book which consists of a short and pleasant combination of a biography of Paine, a history of "Common Sense" and little snippets of what several founders thought of the pamphlet at its author.

This is a solid addition to any American history buff's collection.

46 Pages tells the story of Thomas Paine, his experiences in England, how he came to the colonies and the circumstances that led him to write Common Sense. Paine's life in England and even in America are given only a cursory look, as the book is more about the political and societal climate of the time and how it led him to begin writing against the crown. Before Common Sense, few colonists were thinking of independence. They wanted certain issues resolved, but still wanted to remain under the rule of King George. Paine laid everything on the line in Common Sense, arguing that independence was the only answer if they were going to thrive in America. After the pamphlet was published it spread like wildfire and people began to quickly change their minds about the future. Paine had written Common Sense in a manor that anyone could understand, be they educated or uneducated. He took his case to the people that mattered; the citizens who had built the colonies from the ground up.

The book ends with Common Sense itself. I had never read it before and was amazed at the clarity and persuasiveness of Paine's arguments. If I felt that way now in 2007, imagine how the people felt in 1776.

Thrilling read. Never had a non-fiction "history" book get my heart racing. The first ten pages of this book did. History really does happen in "moments." You really get a sense of how one anonymous, unheralded individual can change everything. If you read gladwell's "The Tipping Point," here is a really good example of perhaps THE tipping point in american history. Was an Englishman the most important Founding Father? Maybe so.
Hint: go read the reviews for the hard cover. This is a great book!!

...such that if I were permitted to read only a single book that summarized the essence of the American Revolution, this would be it!

Thomas Paine sometimes is regrettably forgotten in the glorious panoply of more well-known Founders such as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, etc. - but without his inspiring, soul-stirring words recorded for all time in the short but epic 46-page pamphlet titled "Common Sense", the country may never have gotten off the ground.

A superbly written history of the man, the moment and his irreplaceable contribution to the founding of the United States of America.

This book ought to be mandatory reading in the public school system.

This exposition places Common Sense firmly in context, showing how it came about and how it in turn quickly brought about the Declaration of Independence.

While this is an admirable account of Thomas Paine and the writing of "Common Sense", it's little more than a preacher telling the choir that "Amazing Grace" is a mighty fine hymn.

Anyone who knows even a little of England realizes there's a very strong sense of personal independence, which is the foundation of individual freedom in North America. This attitude, widely expressed during Paine's life in England, was the intellectual foundation of his ideas and those of the 13 Colonies. The combination of the science, industry and social upheaval opened an entirely new world of analysis, opportunity and freedom in England.

However, even today as in the 1770s, although England is among the world's most technologically advanced societies, there is an inordinate fondness for tradition. The endless fascination with "the Royals" is an example; Americans avidly follow the Royals on the basis "this is where we came from" while the English still believe "this is who we are."

While Liell presents an admirable nuts-and-bolts story of "Common Sense", he fails to explain why it was such a dramatic springboard for Americans into independence rather than remaining a mere civil war as was the case in England's "Glorious Revolution". Even now, this difference creates the great misunderstanding between America and "Old Europe".

The Americans of Paine's day weren't illiterate backwoods bumpkins; they were their ancestors loved Shakespeare, Milton and Chaucer. However, having left their homeland far behind, Americans -- like the Australians, unlike the Canadians -- would trust the future to make their ideals come true. Liell doesn't seem to appreciate this difference.

Yet, the book is worth reading. He offers enough biography of Paine to realize his strong personal conviction of individual liberty that was smothered in England could blossom in America and almost lead him to the guillotine in revolutionary France. Paine was "preaching to the choir" in a sense, but he did the equivalent of writing the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' for people who were eager to sing.

More than anything, it is a reminder of how a few chosen words have the power to incite a mob of violence -- or, in this case, a people to greatness. It's as true today as in 1776; the outcome all depends on the cause and the words. For an current example, think of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and what might have been the outcome had the emphasis not been on a recurring fear of another similar attack.

This book is more relevant today than the latest "Eyewitless News": bulletin on television. It remind us of how Paine faced the world's mightiest power and wrote of hope with confidence in the future; it is a glowing contrast to today's climate of fear, doubt and suspicion which shows the absence of a modern Tom Paine.

Thomas Paine was the most important founding father and this book does a fantastic job of proving this fact!! What a great man that was centuries ahead of his time! We need Paine back to fix this current corrupt Government we now suffer with! Hard to imagine Jan 10, 2006 was the 230th anniversary of the publication of Common Sense!