Episode 29: Revolutionary Journalist Tom Paine (part 1)

Renowned historian and political writer Harvey J. Kaye walks us, in a most compelling and colorful fashion, through the life, times, inspiration and influence of the most significant figure of the American rebellion and beyond - revolutionary journalist Thomas Paine. In the first of this 3-part series, Professor Kaye expounds on Paine's early working class background in England, his serendipitous friendship with Benjamin Franklin, his work as a magazine editor in Philadelphia, his controversial anti-slavery pamphlet and his incendiary publication Common Sense - the catalyst for a revolution against the British Crown in favor of not only independence, but also the making of a democratic republic!