Just Finished Reading: Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man by Christopher Hitchens

I’ve had a copy of Rights of Man by Thomas Paine on my bookshelf for sometime – as yet unread – and, as is my habit, decided to read about it before I read the actual text. If you feel the same way then this is an excellent place to start. Although I am somewhat ambivalent about Hitchens himself I must admit that he writes very well indeed.

In this book – part of a series entitled Books that Shook the World – Hitchens places Rights of Man in its historical and political context and explains how the book was in response to an earlier work by Edmund Burke which criticised the French Revolution. Involved in both the French and American revolutions Paine was in a superb position to comment on both and to spread the philosophy of democratic self rule. Quoting extensively from Rights itself (as well as Common Sense and Age of Reason) Hitchens clearly explains why Paine’s works were so explosive in an age of absolute Monarchy.

Told with passion and a sprinkling of humour this fairly short book has definitely encouraged me to dust off several of the political classics languishing on my bookshelves and to actually read them. I shall be reading more of Hitchens too.