Common Sense: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Common Sense, credited to Thomas Paine, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. Read by Bob Neufeld. Thomas Paine has a claim to the title The Father of the American Revolution because of Common Sense, the pro-independence monograph pamphlet he anonymously published on January 10, 1776; signed "Written by an Englishman", the pamphlet became an immediate success. It quickly spread among the literate, and, in three months, 100,000 copies (estimated 500,000 total including pirated editions sold during the course of the Revolution) sold throughout the American British colonies (with only two million free inhabitants), making it the best-selling book ever. Paine's original title for the pamphlet was Plain Truth; Paine's friend, pro-independence advocate Benjamin Rush, suggested Common Sense instead. The pamphlet appeared in January 1776, after the Revolution had started. It was passed around, and often read aloud in taverns, contributing significantly to spreading the idea of republicanism, bolstering enthusiasm for separation from Britain, and encouraging recruitment for the Continental Army. Paine provided a new and convincing argument for independence by advocating a complete break with history. Common Sense is oriented to the future in a way that compels the reader to make an immediate choice. It offers a solution for Americans disgusted and alarmed at the threat of tyranny. (Introduction by Wikipedia)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Common Sense
• Author credits: Thomas Paine
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 5
• Listed recording duration: 2:25:29

Catalogue topics

• advice
• history
• instruction

Track guide

1. 01 - Introduction/Of The Origin And Design Of Government In General, With Concise Remarks On The English Constitution — 18:47
2. 02 - Of Monarchy And Hereditary Succession — 20:30
3. 03 - Thoughts On The Present State Of American Affairs — 42:15
4. 04 - Of The Present Ability Of America, With Some Miscellaneous Reflections — 27:34
5. 05 - Appendix — 36:25

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.