A typical book about a major historical figure doesn''t start at a gay piano bar and almost end in a drainage ditch. But then, Tom Paine wasn''t a typical historical figure... ''A genre-bending spellbinder'' Newsday ''Collins elucidates, with great compassion, what it means to be "normal" and what it means to be human'' LA Times The author of Common Sense and The Rights of Man, a radical on the run from the law in London, a founding father of the United States of America, a senator of revolutionary France, Thomas Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern democracies.He was a walking revolution in human form - the most dangerous man alive. But in death Paine''s story turns truly bizarre - his bones were taken from New York to London and eventually disappeared.In Paris, London and New York, in bars, grocers, shops and national libraries, crossing paths along the way with, among others, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, William Cobbett, Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin and even Lord Bryon, Paul Collins sets himself the challenge of finding out what happened to Paine''s bones, and ends up telling one of the most extraordinary stories of modern history.>

Praise for Paul Collins' Sixpence House 'Collins muses on antiquarian books the way the rest of us remember lost loves'

Vorwort
A typical book about a major historical figure doesn't start at a gay piano bar and almost end in a drainage ditch. But then, Tom Paine wasn't a typical historical figure.

Autorentext
Paul Collins is the author of Sixpence House and Not Even Wrong: A Father's Journey into the Lost History of Autism. He edits the Collins Library for McSweeney's Books, and his work has appeared in New Scientist, the Village Voice, and Business 2.0.