Upon publication in 1791-92, the two parts of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man proved to be both wildly popular and extremely controversial. This immediate bestseller not only defended the French revolution, but also challenged hereditary government, advocated democratic principles, and introduced a blueprint for the modern welfare state. As a result, Rights of Man outsold nearly every other book published over the century before Paine himself was sentenced in absentia for seditious libel and forced into permanent exile from his native England. More than 200 years later, this...

Upon publication in 1791-92, the two parts of Thomas Paine s Rights of Man proved to be both wildly popular and extremely controversial. This immediate bestseller not only defended the French revolution, but also challenged hereditary government, advocated democratic principles, and introduced a blueprint for the modern welfare state. As a result, Rights of Man outsold nearly every other book published over the century before Paine himself was sentenced in absentia for seditious libel and forced into permanent exile from his native England. More than 200 years later, this...