Party The Books

Martha is a moth that is getting ready for her birthday bash. As she cooks the "food" for her party she gets really hungry. She ends up eating all but 2 socks! When her friends arrive she is really sad she has no food to serve them. Read and find out how they cheer her up!


The books was well written and just the right length for a picture book. The pages had lots of great illustrations to talk about while reading.


Yes. It's a neat way to learn about moths!

I read this to my children ages 8-3 and they all loved it. It is a very fun story with great illustrations that the kids keep asking me to read over and over. Highly recommended

My 19-month daughter loves animal books, and loves this book about Martha and her friends. Even though the distinction between moth and butterfly is still lost on her, I always get a giggle out of her when she realizes that Martha is eating clothing!

Both she and I love the wonderful watercolour illustrations, which remind of me the books I read as a child as opposed to some of the more disturbing drawings and cartoons children view today.

The story line is obviously meant for kids older than my daughter, but the colour and pictures keep even little ones entertained. I wish there were a simpler version of these characters in a laminated boardbook format for littler readers.

This book is a gem! Cambria's artwork along with this remarkably witty storyline create a warm and cozy "socksy" feeling for any reader. This is certainly a cuddle up by a fire, or relax under the neighbors apple tree read. I loved it, and would suggest it for any children's book enthusiast!

I am a member and founder of a childrens book club with 57 members that has been meeting once a month to lauch a new book for the last four years. I picked MARTHA MOTH as the celebrated new book of the month and arranged for all the matching feastivities to accompany for the books unveiling. Socks draped, cut out moths and a special dust drink. The reading was fantastic and the other parents and teachers were thrilled to have a book full of spice and imagination. The pictures were bold with creativity...a real feast for the eyes. I hope Martha has many adventures in the near future- as it was our book club shinning star thus far.

Ms. Chast should be able to retire now based on the amount of money I've spent just buying copies of this wonderfully witty book. It's good, clean humor that anyone would love. In fact, one of my friends has permanently borrowed MY copy . . .

I've always loved Roz Chasts cartoons, so having the collection in one book is a real treat. Recommed this to anybody with a sense of humour!

Roz Chast is hands down my favorite cartoonist, and I grew up reading her cartoons in The New Yorker. They were among the funniest and hands-down the most accessible in the magazine. In fact, as a teen, hers were often the only ones I COULD understand! Her humorous outlook on family and life in today's world are as distinctive as her drawing style.

The only issues I have with this book are far too minor for me to subtract any stars. For one thing, there are no page numbers, so in order to find your favorite cartoon, you just have to flip through the entire book, which is colorful and fun but inconvenient. Then there's one New Yorker cover included, from 1990. However, she does not include the title of the illustration (which normally appears inside the magazine, not on the cover) and since it's from 17 years ago, finding the title will prove difficult. Not knowing the title doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the art, but it would be nice to know it!

If you're like me, The New Yorker is the only place you've been exposed to Roz Chast's work. Apparently she does cartoons for a number of publications, and many of them are included here. Therefore, I hadn't previously seen most of the cartoons in this book, which made it a fun new treat for me. I'd recommend this book to people who've never heard of Roz Chast (What better way to be introduced than this?) and to people who are already fans. most of the cartoons are hilarious. I actually bought this as a gift for my aunt, but I couldn't resist reading it myself first. I don't regret either decision for a minute. It's a great book and it'll make my aunt very happy. Make someone you know -- or yourself! -- happy today, and check this one out!

Favorites in the New Yorker, these cartoons' self-effacing, on-point humor will tickle you. The battles of the sexes, the generations and things (guilt, social angst) we maybe didn't realize till Chast shows us. A middle age travel book that's perceptive, well-drawn, unselfconscious and funny best of all.

Since her first cartoons in the New Yorker I have found Ms Chast to be absolutely in line with my own sense of the absurdities we find around us. Maybe it's generational, I find the same with Matt Groening and both the Simpsons and his other cartoons. A great book with an excellent chronological collection of some of her best.

The Author of this book should be very proud! I mean I thought I was a fan and then I read this book and I realized so much I didn't know! This book has shown me how I can dedicate and try to make this show more popular by supporting it!! Read it, it's GREAT!

Pro's: It was interesting to read about the actors and their were plenty of interesting photos. I like reading the comments from the actors on certain episodes.

Cons: The episode guide was good, but it was something I could care less about. I wanted to see more behind the scenes facts and this book gave me what I already knew. Also the quiz at the end was impossible. I've been watching the show since it started, and the questions are based on details that are impossible for even me to remember and the only way you'd remember them is if you taped each episode and/or took notes from each episode. I read what the other people said about the book and thought it would be great, instead it was a dissappointment.

Over all: Don't get this book unless you are a NEW fan and don't know anything. Also don't even try the quiz!

I think that this book was really good, probably because I am a po5 fan! It has good information that I didn't ever know about. I recommend it, and any other party of five books!

It has bios of all the stars and guests, recaps of all the episodes of the first three seasons, behind the scenes info./pics, plus tons of other great stuff!

If you love PO5 as much as I do (which beleve me is a alot!) this is the book that you should read. It gives you the inside scoop on the show and the stars and also includes tons of quizzes and an episode guide. So if your smart (which you must be if you decide to watch PO5) read this book now!

Easy to learn, fast play, and compact -- play on any flat table. Probably best with 3 or more players but fine with 2. Basically uses the exact same part of your mind as scrabble but has is faster, more intense and also more complex.

The tiles are acceptable but they could be a little nicer. And it would be nice if they gave you a bag for the tiles -- the tube is fairly easy to carry around but a small bag would make this game even easier to bring along on trips.

Lots of fun and well worth having in the house.

Very Fun! If you like word play, try this fun and challenging game. It's compact packaging makes it a great game to take on vacation. My 10 year old daughter thought it was too much thinking for summer time, but the adults and other kids really got into it. It can be played at several levels depending on players sensibilities, from a "learning" mode to cutthroat. I highly recommend it.

I was in an Airport in Vermont waiting for 3 hours for my next flight home when I first played this game! It is perfect to carry around in your bag. IT's light, and tons of fun! It not only makes you think fast, you also have to have fast reflexes to snatch the word! Love this game! It can be played with lots of people or just two!

This game is great -- easy to learn, and moves much faster than scrabble! Much more engaging, as everyone has to pay attention all the time. We gave it to our parents for Christmas, and the family became instant addicts.

This is a clever new word game which is simple yet incredibly addictive. My husband and I play this game almost every night. It is cleverly packaged and takes up little room, so we keep it accessible on the kitchen table and consequently, play often.

It has a simple premise and scoring method, is fun for 2 or more players, and keeps all players involved in the game. It takes little time to play one game, so it's a great option for after dinner. It only takes a game or two for new players to become very competitive with experienced players, and thus is great for mixed groups. Good spelling is a help, as is a good vocabulary, but even those skills are less important than being able to track the words and letters in play and keep possibilities in mind for when the right letter appears. My 17 y/o stepson can routinely beat us, and he's not an avaricious reader as we are, he just sees --and seizes-- the opportunities available.

The game is great fun for all ages and I highly reccomend it.

I just got mine and to be fair, Im really dissapointed. It supposed to hold the psp but it just need to turn to get the psp out. It also look fancy but Im not sure if it'll protect for real

100+ Baby Shower Games is a collection of fun and simple games especially for commemorating a special delivery in the life of a family member or friend! Ideal for baby showers, a great antidote to baby blues, and sure to liven up parties and gatherings, 100+ Baby Shower Games offers suggestions for both before and after a baby's birth, to cheer up moms who may be close at hand or out-of-town. Sample game suggestions include guessing how many safety pins are tucked inside a baby food jar, an active balloon game in which everyone ties a balloon around his or her ankle and tries to stomp other people's balloons while protecting their own, asking guests to fill an empty wine bottle with messages for the baby's 16th birthday (then give the creation to the baby when he or she turns 16), and more. A family-friendly springboard of wonderful ways to celebrate the start of a new life.

I am not the type who needs organizational help when planning a party, so this was great for just getting to the games. There are so many, no matter what type of baby shower you're throwing, you'll be sure to find what you're looking for.

This book was an excellent resource!!! There are so many great ideas that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just a few for my friends shower. I highly recommend this book to anyone giving a shower.

100+ Baby Shower Games is a collection of fun and simple games especially for commemorating a special delivery in the life of a family member or friend! Ideal for baby showers, a great antidote to baby blues, and sure to liven up parties and gatherings, 100+ Baby Shower Games offers suggestions for both before and after a baby's birth, to cheer up moms who may be close at hand or out-of-town. Sample game suggestions include guessing how many safety pins are tucked inside a baby food jar, an active balloon game in which everyone ties a balloon around his or her ankle and tries to stomp other people's balloons while protecting their own, asking guests to fill an empty wine bottle with messages for the baby's 16th birthday (then give the creation to the baby when he or she turns 16), and more. A family-friendly springboard of wonderful ways to celebrate the start of a new life.

To be fair about it, this is a funny book. I am a democrat and make no apology for it and even so, in the interest of fairness can find humor in some of the gaffes and faux pas of public figures who are democrats.

I didn't view this as a slam on democrats per se. I viewed it as a compliation of funny stories and comments. Democrats as with any group have a myriad of personalities and abilities. Humor can be counted among them. Democrats have wonderful political humor - check out some of the clever sayings on bumper stickers!

Despite these 449 gaffes and faux pas from well known democrats, Dumbya has the dubious distinction of the leading edge. See, only 449 have been publicly taxed to democrats in this book. Dumbya far exceeds that figure. His verbal gaffes; mispronuciations; barbarisms; faux pas and malapropisms far exceed the compilations in this book.

This is just a little book of 138 pages,but it is packed with some great and humorous things Democrats have said over the years.Some of them may not have been too outrageous at the time,but in a while came back to haunt them.If you are a Democrat, with a thin skin,maybe you better pass this up and leave it for a Republican.I am sure you can find a similar book of Republican quotes which are just as funny.However,if you can get past political affiliations,you'll love this book.
Just to show you what you'll find in this little tome,here are a few I relished:
"If a president of the United States ever lied to the American
people,he should resign"
-Bill Clinton,commenting on President Nixon and the
Watergate scandal while running for Congress in 1974.

"I remember when I first came to Washington.For the first
six months you wonder how the hell you ever got there.For the
next six months you wonder how the hell the rest of them got
there."
-Harry Truman (president,1945-1953)

"Sex is a bad thing because it rumples the clothes."
-Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis (first lady,1961-1963)

"I have been called a 'stupid and pathetic country bumpkin,'
...compared to David Koresch,and blamed for a sixty-five
point drop in the stock market,but never have I been called
anything so repugnant...as a "Washington Insider."
-James Carvill (political consultant)

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our
papers.We are the president."
-Hillary Clinton (first lady,1993-2001),discussing
possible release of Whitewater documents.

"Who is going to find out? These women are trash.Nobody's
going to believe them."
-Hillary Rodham Clinton (first lay,1993-2001),on her
husband's affairs.

"God bless the America we are trying to create."
-Hillary Rodham Clinton

"I have to borrow money from her (his wife)to get a soft drink"
-Jesse Jackson

" Thank you for saving me from the draft."
-Bill Clinton (president,1993-2001),in a 1969 letter to
retired U.S. Army ROTC Colonel Eugene Holmes,chairman
of Clinton's local draft board.

Even after all this,a politican is never lost for words!

I had a blast with this book. It really shows how these Dem's think! I loved the quote by Hillary Clinton "WE are president" if that doesn't say it all. Also, loved "God bless the America we are trying to create." -Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let's all hope she doesn't get the chance.

This is a funny book. Neither party is immune from "Foot in Mouth Disease" It's great that we can laugh at ourselves from time to time. This is very important! There are enough bad and tragic things in the world, and Ted Rueter does a good job showing us where our political funny bone is.

Thanks Ted..

Jeffrey McAndrew
broadcaster and author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Carefully go down this list of famous politicians/celebrities and answer truthfully whether you like them or dislike them overall. If you like more of the R's than the D's what does that tell you?

(R) Ronald Reagan
(R) George Bush Sr.
(R) George W. Bush
(R) Rudy Giuliani
(R) George Pataki
(R) Arnold Shwarzennegger
(R) Bob Dole
(R) Roger Clemens
(R) Tony Danza
(R) Bruce Willis
(D) John Kerry
(D) Ted Kennedy
(D) Hillary Clinton
(D) Bill Clinton
(D) John Edwards
(D) Jim McGreevy
(D) Al Sharpton
(D) Michael Moore
(D) Ben Affleck
(D) Tim Robbins

"Republicans confront issues head-on and implement consistent structured ideals. Liberals use a more "conversational" approach of dealing with things on a case-by-case basis instead of using a set belief system."
-Vic Gola

I think that above statement is key because "liberal" literally means "one with untraditional, unorthodox values, one not concerned with authoritarian attitudes, views or dogmas and completely tolerant to the ideas and behavior of others." It seems that liberals favor more proposals for reform and prefer new ideas for progress rather than sticking to something that's been done for centuries (whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent that's the republican way). Conservatives (or moderate democrats who have some conservative tendencies) tend to look at those from the far left to be overly loose, broad-minded, morally unrestrained individuals, which often equates to "soft" or "wishy-washy." Which, if further translated can clearly (or subconsciously) equate to "flip-flopping" or being unfit to command.

So I think Kerry lost because with these troubled times in our country, Americans want a little bit more of an old-fashioned guy in power, mainly because he asserts that very "power" with his belief system. And all the famous people on Bush's side agree with that system as opposed to the rebels on Kerry's side. I think people want more of a "Family Ties" type feeling over "Will & Grace."

Are you more of a Michael Stivik or an Archie Bunker?

If 10 stars were available, that's what I would rate this book. The history of how we got into our current mess and what Progressives can do NOW to turn it around is communicated clearly, rationally, and passionately while remaining a highly interesting read. Having read dozens and dozens of related books over the past 3 or 4 years, this one may well be the most effective call to action of all. I was so motivated and inspired by it that I bought 12 more copies to send to friends and relatives. Don't even consider skipping this one...it's a Must Read treasure!

Ever wonder how Republicans manage to capture middle and working class votes while serving the interests of the wealthy? How they've managed to win the presidency and both houses of Congress despite disastrous economic, environmental and international policies? What it is about their communication style that makes it so convincing and effective?

Wonder no more. Paul Waldman has studied the masters and returned with a brilliant and entertaining analysis of their technique, along with a strategic plan for beating them at their own game.

This book is genius--great fun to read and filled with aha! moments. If you'd like a manual in the martial arts of political communication so that you can help progressives become winners, then this is a must-read.

I bought this book together with "The Good Fight" by Peter Beinart. While both books have their utility, neither is as good as Joe Klein in "Politics Lost." Waldman gets five stars to Beinart's four mostly because he is much more readable, has many useful tables including an analysis of the states where extremist Republicans as well as extremist Democrats are weak, and his book is generally focused on the left of center middle and the caring citizen as opposed to policy wonks that Beinart addresses in his book.

Page 111 is a very fine diagram of the issue columns that the Democratic Party simply does not address responsibly nor--a theme throughout the book--courageously. Over-all the book does a very fine job of defining the distinctions between conservatives and progressives, as well as the distinctions between what conservatives stand for and what they say, and what progressives stand for and do not say.

The author spends most of his time comparing conservatives to progressives (code for left of center liberals) which is something of a pity because he appears to have a very well developed sense of the issues and what the center and left-center can and should stand for.

There are two bottom lines in this book, and both of them make eminent sense to me:

1) Don't bring a knife to a gun-fight. The author points out in detail how inept and weak and unfocused the Democrats are at every stage of the political game beginning with high school and collage political clubs.

2) Stand for the public, for the individual taxpayer, for the blue-collar worker, the working poor, the lower middle class. The author stresses that this is a fight between those who respresent special interests and believe the government role is to liberate the marketplace (code for allow the looting of the Commonwealth) and those who should be representing the masses of individual workers and taxpayers.

The author takes a long view and believes that it will take a great deal of time to recover from the total abdication to the extremist Republicans. While this nice in principle, the book does not focus as well on what it will take to win over-whelmingly; for that we recommend Joe Klein's "Politics Lost." On the issues, Matthew Miller's "The Two-Percent Solution."

On a personal note, I would add that the author's focus on "Being Right is Not Enough" is perfectly consistent with my own view that "Vote Democratic Is Not Enough." Rove and Cheney have demonstrated, twice, that they can steal Presidential elections that are close--through Florida in 2000, through Ohio is 2004. Even if every liberal-progressive adopted the ideas in this book, they would not be enough. We need a multi-party focus on electoral reform and crushing the extremist Republican thieves (I am a moderate Republican), crushing the special interests, and restoring the Republic to the public---a Republic of, by, and for the People, not Corporations.

With wit and intelligence, Paul Waldman makes a compelling case for a progressive vision. While he examines and learns from conservative successes, what he is most interested in is what will energize a progressive movement. He admirably stresses the importance of a progressive agenda, as well as a narrative for progressives. He looks at the importance of both the short and the long term, and why progressives must have both. He is also very skilled at performing a kind of ideological ju-jitsu, in which he turns apparent Republican strengths into weakenesses that can be effectively utilized by progressives who that are both wiley and principled. On a couple of instances of this I am not wholly convinced, but I would nevertheless highly recommend this book to all progressives.

In 2004 a President who lied to justify an unpopular war and had the worst jobs record since the Depression still managed to win. The Republicans control all three branches of government and a majority of governorships and state legislatures. The national debate has shifted from real problems to distractions like gay marriage, partial-birth abortion, and flag-burning. Waldman believes this all adds up to a need for progressives to change.

Waldman believes progressives should create a single movement (not remain a collection of interest groups) devoted to fighting conservatism and advancing a progressive view. Ask an ordinary person what conservatives stand for and he'll likely respond with four powerful, easily understood ideas - low taxes, small government, strong defense, and traditional values. Ask him what liberals stand for and chances are he'll give you the obverse. Conservatives focus on emotions and the character of the speaker; liberals on logic and facts. (A good point - look at most advertising in the U.S.!)

A majority of Americans favor legal abortion, gun control universal healthcare, strong environmental protections, generous Social Security and Medicare benefits. Yet, they are stymied. Part of conservatives' secret is their institutions (eg. American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institute) are multi-issue and make political use of their products easy (eg. recording studios are available for interviews). Liberals, on the other hand, have single-issue organizations, poorly marketed publications, and poorly paid core staff.

Waldman points out that the South (heavy evangelical concentration) is a major problem for progressives; the problem is acerbated by Republicans use of racism (Reagan - welfare queens, Bush I - Willie Horton, Bush II - going to Bob Jones University with its ban on inter-racial dating, and avoiding a position on the Confederate Flag). Suggests progressives point out Dobson et al don't follow their own teaching regarding the poor, the GOP is guardian of widely unpopular status quo on healthcare (would help business as well), refocusing the abortion debate to "How can we reduce it?" and pointing out it went down under Clinton and up under Bush, support doing away with the Electoral College in the interest of fairness, and attack the notion of "liberal elite" via the GOP's tax cuts for the rich and its healthcare positions. Also suggests not letting Republican attacks go unanswered - eg. Kerry vs. Swift boat ads.

Defining Progressives: "We're all in this together," vs. Conservatives' "We're all on our own and out for ourselves."

Good material.

This is a delightful, body-positive and beautiful work of art. I have purchased several copies for friends of both genders, and consider it mandatory reading (and coloring). The vagina should be celebrated, and it is truly unfortunate that we reside in a world where women feel their "private parts" need reconstruction or deserve anything less than reverence. I encourage everyone to buy a book and celebrate the beauty of the female body; the mystery; the wonder; the humor... Viva La Vagina!

This book is a wonderfully whimsical bit of erotica... I got it as a birthday present for my boyfriend and it's always a bit topic of conversation when company comes over. it's now almost completely colored in!

I think this was one of the best gifts I've ever given. If you like seeing your friends and family turn red, this will surly do the trick. This book was great fun. : )

This book entered my life at a time when I was feeling more or less 'eh' about my vagina. Like, I'd wake up in the morning, first thought: 'I've got a vagina.' Next thought: 'Yeah, so?'

Not anymore. In my mind, at least, my private parts have progressed from the drab Middle Ages to a Technicolor Age of Aquarius. Let the sunshine in.

This book is FUN! Everyone I show it to loves it! Guys, girls, the whole party is standing over each others shoulders commenting, pointing, and laughing at themselves for enjoying this book so thoroughly. Even some of my kinda straight edge friends love it!

This book is a shortened version of the TV episode, "Blue's Big Birthday." It's interactive, as well as has the clue game of, "What does Blue want for her birthday?" Like the show, it features Steve, Blue, and the gang, and introduces Blue's turtle, Turquoise--although Blue doesn't name her in the book.

This is pure "Blues Clues," pure and simple. Blue is having a birthday and we are asked to give a hand. The format is like that of the excellent TV show. The art work is quite well done, the text simple and easy for the little ones to follow. This is a fun book to read with your preschooler. This entire series is quite good and I do recommend them quite highly.

It's party-time for Blue --- it's her birthday! The "Blue's Clues" house is fully decorated, with plenty of balloons, confetti and more. We arrive just a little early, so we help to get everything ready for the party. And there's a game of Blue's Clues as well --- Blue needs a present.

This is a good story --- it's a lot like the TV show and the text is readable, but sufficiently complex that it should keep kids that are used to the level of the TV show engaged. Kids will also enjoy seeing Steve, Blue and all the fun party stuff.

I got this for my little boy's 3rd birthday. He loves Blue, and loved this book. We read it every night, and every night he loves to find Blue's clues and show me all the things he remembered about the story.
Great buy!!!

This a great book. If you kids love Blue's Clue. They will love this book.

There is also a wonderful video that goes along with this book. It is wonderful. Blue's Clues - Blue's Birthday

It is quite unfortunate that the maladroit public school system has failed to have this as a required reading. Thomas Paine has obtained immortality with these words in the minds of true conservative Constitutionalists-that of which has been obscured by both the Republicrats and Demopulicans. Having not read this in high school, I am glad I did. In a time when America is in an aberration from her fundamental principles I find myself genuflecting to her Constitution for insight-for that I am ridiculed, receive derision, and considered a conspiracy theorist and unpatriotic. Lamentation is among those of us who see the force that is reverting this country to a fusion between Fascism and Communism-a new hybrid of government. Fortunately, this is a REPUBLIC and we can fire back through political intervention and fiscal boycotts. We find it facile to intervene where we must, but that ability is shifting to arduousness with laws such as the Patriot Act-which makes docile dissent an act of terrorism. What Paine wrote in this pamphlet is very well applicable to our relationship to the Federal Government in the present. For me, this book gave me the boon to spread the message of what America was founded upon, the Constitution.

There are those men/women that are born from the process of reproduction that go beyond the mere existence of flesh and truly lubricate their being into the gears of this Machine we call life. From the conception of their ornate thoughts to the inoculation of their fluid into our being, at times we can overlook them in the present, but in the future, we revere them for their message. How many of these individuals have we murdered, assassinated, tortured, ostracized or allowed their message to become senescent in society? The recoil can at times prove that we are indeed merely in duress by the masses, but there are those of us that see the profundity in the present. Thomas Paine was not one who was ostracized or murdered for his ideologies, but it calls forth a siren in the present that is commensurate to Ron Paul's The Revolution: A Manifesto.

If I am not mistaken, I am sure I can be indicted for an act of terrorism, have Storm Troopers breach my home without warrant, be shipped to Guantanamo Bay for torture and denied rights to Due Process, all for exercising my right to free speech by writing this review; and, not to mention, for saying that the Federal Government is subordinate to the Constitution and must yield to the States; States yield to Counties; Counties to Cities; Cities to Communities; and Communities to Families-that is "the REPUBLIC for which we stand!"

Common sense was at the right place at the right time, written by the right person. It created an inflection point that changed the world!

Most major changes in life are cause by events called inflection points. An inflection point is an event that changes how you view the world, who you are, or your life in general.

Think 9-11. People in the United States felt safer before that day. After 9-11 we realized our vulnerability to terrorists. There are many inflection points in our history.

Tomas Paine's Common Sense created a major inflection point in history!

In early 1776 Thomas Paine published a 46 page pamphlet called Common Sense. It helped inspire the writing of the Declaration of Independence and motivated a nation to start a revolution.

The book was written for the common man and was estimated to have sold 120,000 copies within three months of publication and 500,000 copies within a year. It is worth noting that this was in the United States when there were only 3 million people--and many couldn't read!

John Adams and others had been arguing for the United States to become an independent nation. The release of Paine's Common Sense was the inflection point that caused the nation to become independent.

Thomas Paine used his Critical Thinking skills to determine that the time was right to inspire the people to take action. He argued convincingly that the young nation had to make a choice for independence now--not later. Paine explained that within fifty years the personal interests of individuals who would acquire status and money by then would resist such a change. And, the colonies would be more established and would resist such a change.

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." ~Thomas Paine


The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

This book was originally written as a pamphlet in 1776. It was crucial in advancing the thought and spirit of the American Revolution to the masses. I found this book to be amazing in how forward thinking the author was. Declaring "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind". He spends the first part of the book logically explaining that Monarchy is wrong and having heirs to a throne is ridiculous. He uses the bible as part of his argument that kings and kingdoms are man made and the origin is corrupt so they should be done away with. He goes on to explain how a fair practice of representation in government could take place in the colonies after independance. He writes that America had no logical need to submit to Great Britain's dominion any longer and that after the treatment America received, she had every right to independance. Paine predicts that America would emerge as a powerful nation with its natural resources and location. He says that the pride of kings results in wars. He states that in a monarchy the King is law, in a democracy Law is king. This book is a wonderful trip into logic and reason concerning Americas independance, I enjoyed it. Thomas Paine's vision of America came true, and you can read that vision in this book.

"Men read by way of revenge."

A forerunner of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Common Sense should properly be regarded (at least in a historical, though not a legal, sense) as one of the founding documents of this nation.

Paine makes the case for independence in strong moral terms, clearly based on the Enlightenment political theories of John Locke. The list he gives of the Crown's abuses should already be familiar to the reader from the Declaration (Jefferson did not give sufficient credit to Paine for his obvious influence on that document), though Paine's recounting is somewhat more detailed, as he could treat the topic at greater length in his pamphlet.

Paine also offers suggestions in some detail about a Constitutional Congress and the drafting of such a document, and based on the course of subsequent events it seems that the other Founders took Paine's suggestions to heart.

And of course, few other books in history (and particularly non-fiction works, since art can have a power that plain argument does not) have so effectively rallied public opinion.

Read this book. You will be surprised, even if your expectations were already high, and you will certainly be inspired.

This was a required reading for a graduate humanities class. John Keane's biography succinctly showed that Tom Paine (1737-1809) was the consummate revolutionary and a daring adventurer. Not only was he an important figure in the American Revolution, but he also traveled to France in 1791 to give that revolution a push. Paine traveled from England, just in time to stoke the flames of the revolution with his pamphlet Common Sense, in January 1776. To call Common Sense a sensation in the colonies is actually a bit of an understatement. It was an unparallel sensation and monumental work of Enlightenment rhetoric that quickly fanned the flames of rebellion throughout the colonies. In four months, over 120,000 copies were printed in the colonies--over 500,000 copies by years end. No other pamphlet printed in seventeenth century America came close to its success. Most importantly, Common Sense served to get the colonial patriots to drop their fear of open rebellion, and also emboldened those delegates who favored declaring independence from Britain. The delegates now had the confidence that a large segment of the colonists would support rebellion. Similar to the Declaration of Independence, the philosophical ideas in Common Sense are primarily from the English philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704). The most moving quote from the pamphlet became quite prophetic, when one considers the impact it ultimately had on the delegates in the congress, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, and on the world. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I heartily recommend this timeless classic to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history.