[image: Common Sense pamphlet title page, 1776 | Thomas Paine portrait by George Romney]
Before America had free speech, it had Thomas Paine: pamphleteer, provocateur, the sharpest pen behind two revolutions. He arrived in Greenwich Village broke and forgotten, boarding on Bleecker Street and dying on Grove Street in 1809 with only six mourners at his funeral. But his fire never went out. A century later, Masses radicals like John Reed, Louise Bryant, and Max Eastman faced prosecution for the same dangerous act Paine had practiced: printing what power didn't want to read. Decades later, the writers of the Village Voice, like Jack Newfield, Lester Bangs and Norman Mailer, picked up that same torch. Paine’s most celebrated quote – "These are the times that try men's souls” – has perhaps never been more apposite. Join Marc Catapano on this insightful and timely tour.
Starting location: Marie’s Crisis, 59 Grove Street, New York 10014
