History · Similar reads
Books like Common Sense
The best books like Common Sense are The Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, and Alexander Hamilton. Common Sense by Thomas Paine is about independence, republicanism, monarchy. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Federalist Papers
01
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay · History
The Federalist Papers are a collection of eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay between October 1787 and May 1788, under the collective pseudonym Publius.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Democracy in America
02
Alexis de Tocqueville · History
Democracy in America, published in two volumes in 1835 and 1840, is Alexis de Tocqueville's analysis of the democratic experiment in the United States as a model for what was coming to Europe.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary → - Alexander Hamilton
03
Ron Chernow · Biography
Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton — immigrant, orphan, Revolutionary War aide-de-camp, first Secretary of the Treasury, founder of the American financial system, and victim of Aaron Burr's bullet — is the most comprehensive single-volume account of Hamilton's life and the book that most directly sparked the Hamilton revival in popular culture, including Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical.
A kindred history read.
Read the summary →
- The Black Jacobins
04
C.L.R. James · History
The Black Jacobins is C.L.R.
Shares independence and revolution with Common Sense.
Read the summary → - Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
05
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
Simon Schama · History
Simon Schama's Citizens was published to mark the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989 and immediately became one of the most controversial histories of the event in decades.
Both dig into revolution.
Read the summary → - Anything You Want
06
Derek Sivers · Business
Anything You Want is Derek Sivers' account of building, running, and eventually selling CD Baby, the independent musician distribution company he founded accidentally in 1998 when a few friends asked him to sell their CDs online.
Both dig into independence.
Read the summary → - Homage to Catalonia
07
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
Both dig into revolution.
Read the summary → - Lenin
08
Victor Sebestyen · Biography
Victor Sebestyen's Lenin is a biography that aims to restore the man behind the mythology — both the Soviet mythology that made him a saint and the anti-communist one that made him a simple monster.
Both dig into revolution.
Read the summary → - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
09
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Marjane Satrapi · Memoir
Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir of growing up in Tehran during and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Both dig into revolution.
Read the summary → - Red Rising
10
Pierce Brown · Science fiction
Red Rising is set on Mars in a far-future humanity stratified by color-coded caste: Golds rule, Reds mine the deep rock, and everyone in between occupies a precisely ordered place.
Both dig into revolution.
Read the summary → - The Grace of Kings
11
Ken Liu · Fantasy
The Grace of Kings is the first volume of Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty, an epic fantasy set in an archipelago empire that maps broadly onto the fall of the Qin dynasty and the rise of the Han.
Both dig into political legitimacy.
Read the summary → - The Social Contract
12
Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Philosophy
The Social Contract opens with one of philosophy's most famous sentences: "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." Rousseau's 1762 treatise sets out to explain how political authority can be legitimate rather than merely imposed by force.
Both dig into political legitimacy.
Read the summary →
Books like Common Sense: quick answers
What are the best books like Common Sense?
The best books like Common Sense by Thomas Paine are The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Common Sense, such as independence, republicanism, monarchy.
What should I read after Common Sense?
A natural next read after Common Sense is The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. A kindred history read. Other strong choices are Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James.
What books are similar to Common Sense by Thomas Paine?
Common Sense centers on independence, republicanism, monarchy. Books with a similar feel include The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama, Anything You Want by Derek Sivers — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
