Against All Odds - Paine, Thomas

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Résumé :
Like other legends of his era, he died before he was thirty. Unlike most others, his accomplishments embraced a far greater range of activities. As a result, he packed more excitement into his short span of years than most people could in ten lifetimes. From severe winter hazards in the mountains of Idaho to confrontations with hooligans as a U. S. Forest Service Ranger. From the challenges of learning to fly an airplane to those of teaching aviation cadets the fine arts of aerial dogfighting as a Stunt Instructor in Aerial Gunnery with the U. S. Army Air Service in WWI. As an aerial entrepreneur, from performing heart-stopping aerial maneuvers at air shows to creating and commanding an air force for the governor of Baja California to protect the territory from invading Mexican troops. From flying the most treacherous section of the transcontinental route for the U. S. Airmail Service to having his airplane's engine self-destruct in flight. All this and so much more until a tragic and fatal accident at home prematurely ended his life. The accounts in this book are especially compelling as the protagonist himself wrote them in letters to his parents. In addition to the correspondence, there are diary entries from his earlier years and newspaper articles written by the reporters who followed his career. The text is illustrated with numerous never-before-published photographs, many of them taken by Top. Come ride with Top Paine on this action-packed journey through the early years of the Twentieth Century! It's all true, it's all real, and it's a trip you'll neither forget nor regret taking....

Biographie:
Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 - June 8, 1809) was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights. Born in Thetford in the English county of Norfolk, Paine migrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his powerful pamphlet Common Sense (1776), which crystallized the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said: Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain. Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. The British government, worried by the possibility that the French Revolution might spread to England, had begun suppressing works that espoused radical philosophies. Paine's work, which advocated the right of the people to overthrow their government, was duly targeted, with a writ for his arrest issued in early 1792. Paine fled to France in September where, despite not being able to speak French, he was quickly elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Maximilien Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December 1793, he was arrested and was taken to Luxembourg Prison in Paris. While in prison, he continued to work on The Age of Reason (1793-1794). James Monroe, a future President of the United States, used his diplomatic connections to get Paine released in November 1794. In 1802, he returned to the U.S. where he died on June 8, 1809.

Sommaire:
Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 - June 8, 1809) was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights. Born in Thetford in the English county of Norfolk, Paine migrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin, arriving just in time to participate in the American Revolution. Virtually every rebel read (or listened to a reading of) his powerful pamphlet Common Sense (1776), which crystallized the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said: Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain. Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. The British government, worried by the possibility that the French Revolution might spread to England, had begun suppressing works that espoused radical philosophies. Paine's work, which advocated the right of the people to overthrow their government, was duly targeted, with a writ for his arrest issued in early 1792. Paine fled to France in September where, despite not being able to speak French, he was quickly elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Maximilien Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy. In December 1793, he was arrested and was taken to Luxembourg Prison in Paris. While in prison, he continued to work on The Age of Reason (1793-1794). James Monroe, a future President of the United States, used his diplomatic connections to get Paine released in November 1794. In 1802, he returned to the U.S. where he died on June 8, 1809....