[Thomas] Paine is a good subject for a historical novelist; a master controversialist, he lived one of the stormiest of lives, and his picturesque career ended in tragedy…. But much in Paine's mind and character remains unknown, and the historical novelist has scope for original interpretation. He can well present Paine as a hero—and Mr. Fast does so; he can with good reason paint him as one of the liberators of the human mind.
The best element in [Citizen Tom Paine] is the portrait of Paine; a portrait vigorous, consistent, and admiring. The story is a series of vividly imagined and highly dramatic scenes…. From beginning to end the novel is swift-paced, lusty-spirited, and rhetorical. It grips the reader, and leaves him feeling that he understands some of the personages and occurrences of the turbulent period better. In fact, it is so good that we cannot help wishing that it were a great deal better. To its feverish speed and rhetorical energy it sacrifices the finer shades of historical truth and the more delicate effects of art. It contains many false touches—false to fact, false in taste; it draws altogether too lurid a picture of different social environments; its rude sketches of men like Hamilton, Greene, Condorcet, and Anachorsis Clootz need more finish. The novel has power. But until Mr. Fast learns to combine power with more restraint, more careful accuracy, and more studied art, his books will not last.
Allan Nevins, "Man of Reason with a Mission," in The Saturday Review of Literature (copyright © 1943 by Saturday Review; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission), Vol. XXVI, No. 18, May 1, 1943, p. 8.
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