Harvey J. Kaye

Thomas Paine and the Promise of America by Harvey J. Kaye is a biography about the famous English-American political activist during the American revolution. Mr. Kaye is an American historian currently working as the the Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin.

This is a biography, and assessment of the life of Mr. Paine, all in the context of the American Revolutionary War. The book also touches on how Mr. Paine’s political philosophy changed our way of thinking, our country and even influences American politics to this day.

Thomas Paine’s most famous work, Common Sense, a pamphlet written in 1775-1776 which advocates independence from Great Britain influenced many important people and an argument can be made that without it the revolution might not have happened. Paine’s vision of democracy inspired many and frightened some, since his background as a working class individual spoke more to the masses than the aristocratic background of many of America’s founding fathers.

Thomas Paine’s work influenced many radicals during, and after, his lifetime. These radicals called for such extreme change such as ending slavery, women’s equality, fair wages and so on. The book devotes almost half of it to the public perception and appreciation of Mr. Paine, sometimes decades and centuries after his death. As we all know at this point, Paine’s “radical” views gained acceptance over the years and now became standard.

This is a well written, facilitating book about an influential political activist and philosopher. I found it fascinating that, despite being a best-selling author, Mr. Paine refused to profit from his political writings and donated his profits them to purchase mittens for General Richard Montgomery‘s troops.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com… (meer)

The provocative title of Harvey Kaye’s Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?, and Other Questions is what first caught my attention. This collection of essays and book reviews, all written by Kaye, is divided into three sections, History and Memory, Education and Democracy and Intellectuals and Politics. All of the sections are, in their own way political. And that is the works strength and weakness. This collection was put together at the height of the “Culture Wars” when the Radical Right was blaming all of the problems that twelve years of Republican administrations could not solve on academia. They even invented a few problems that, according to the corporately owned media, were a result of leftwing “tenured radicals”.
I found the first section to be the weakest. Even though I agreed with almost everything Kaye wrote his attacks were, at times, to personal to be effective and may have elicited sympathy rather than the contempt the actors under discussion deserved. The last two sections were much stronger.
The national standards for humanities education developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities under the direction of Lynne Cheney but released during the Clinton administration are a frequent topic in these sections. Cheney chose Kaye to take part in the earliest stages of development of the standards and we learn of his early misgivings about the process. The lack of involvement in public discourse by any actual left leaning academics is a frequent theme but over all there is more breast beating and navel gazing than problem solving to be found here on that topic.
Overall the book was worthwhile. It is very informative about the “Culture Wars” of the 1980s and 1990s and enlightening on why the radical right was so successful. They were unopposed.… (meer)

Kaye's book includes a biography of Thomas Paine, and an assessment of his life in the context of the American Revolution, but also tracks his influence in America from his time to the present.

Without Paine's Common Sense, the American Revolution may not have happened. He took a vague thought of many, the possibility of revolution, and clarified why it was possible and necessary. More, he created a vision of democracy that has inspired so many ever since. Paine was from a working class background, unlike most of the Founding Fathers, and was more trusting that the working class could and should be given political power in a democracy. For that reason he has never been a favorite of conservatives, who generally wanted power limited to an elite, and has inspired radicals ever since.

In fact the latter part of the book is basically a history of radicals in America from Paine's time forward. I find that fascinating, as I've always been interested in various radicals. They were the ones demanding the end of slavery, the expansion of the electorate, the equality of women, fair wages and working conditions, and so much more. I think I was a radical in a previous life - though I don't know much about her, I've always been drawn to Emma Goldman, for example. I don't approve of violence, now, but I understand the desperation that can lead to it.

This history does show the influence on history that a single individual can have, Fascinating read.… (meer)