Thomas Paine: Foundling Father
A Lecture with J. Ward Regan

This event is part of the Paine Year 2009 commemorative activities.

Honoring sometime-Greenwich Village resident Thomas Paine, NYU Professor of History J. Ward Regan will explore Paine’s final days in Greenwich Village as well as his enduring importance and mystifying modern anonymity. Paine, born and raised in England, eventually became the voice of the American cause during the American Revolution when he wrote the words “These are the times that try men’s souls,” but died in poverty and obscurity in the Village in June 1809.

What brought Paine to Greenwich Village and what led to his obscurity towards the end of his life and since his death? Mr. Regan will recount the life and writings of Thomas Paine in the last quarter of the eighteenth century as well as address the paradox of how important Paine’s ideas and achievements were while at same time being wildly unrenowned.

This event is co-sponsored by the Thomas Paine Friends, Inc.