�Claeys has done a fine job of situating Paine�s famous text in the intellectual and practical context, drawing
out the most important themes, and referring the reader to the best secondary literature. . . . An excellent textbook
for undergraduate courses in political theory.�
--James Tully, McGill University
Hackett Web Site, March 2000
Summary
Offering more detailed explanatory notes than earlier versions, this edition reprints together for the first
time all of Paine�s introductions to the versions published in his lifetime. In his own richly informed Introduction,
Claeys elucidates the historical context and the subsequent influence of Paine�s text, as well as the major problems
in interpreting Paine�s theory. Instructors will find this new edition a worthy counterpoint to the Hackett edition
of Burke�s Reflections on the Revolution in France, edited by J. G. A. Pocock.
