Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was a radical, a revolutionary, an author and a pamphleteer. Denounced in Britain following the publication of the Rights of Man (1791), Paine’s intellectual legacy is such that he is still cited in the political rhetoric of today. Speck’s biography examines Paine’s work in light of new thinking about the role of religion in the formation of his political ideology, and also places Paine within the context of ‘Atlantic History’.

"'a comprehensive and thoughtful work that deserves to be not only in academic libraries but also those of anyone seriously interested in Thomas Paine... [it] must surely become one of the most important of Paine biographies and deserves a wide readership'"