A revisionist, demythologized history of Thomas Paine, England's greatest revolutionary~Offers a brand new account of the 'age of revolution', and of the alleged political implementation of 'the Enlightenment'~Provides a new interpretation of the American and French Revolutions~Explains how the politics of the eighteenth century (Enlightenment, natural rights) related to those of the nineteenth (utilitarianism, socialism)~Takes intellectual control of the radical and revolutionary traditions