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I'm a classroom teacher, and the most important thing I can tell you about myself is the philosophy behind writing this book. In other words, let's skip to the good stuff.

This book IS adapted founding documents. Four whoppers. Yet, these four had generally been ignored; and I had never met anyone who had read the originals. (Lots of schools, students and adults are reading them now.) These documents, Boston Port Act, Olive Branch Petition, King's Proclamation on Suppressing Rebellion, and Thomas Paine's Common Sense, were all critical to the founding of our country. And I wanted my students to read them. I wanted students everywhere to read them. However, in their original forms it was tough going.

Most of us know that we learn best, and continue to learn more, when we have prior background knowledge of a subject or event. Textbooks, for the most part, don't excite too many people, and the subject matter generally pops out your head once you scramble for a bookmark. Ok, in honesty, most history curriculum is bland, sanitized and uninspiring. And yet, our country's history is the farthest thing from bland.

But reading America's founding documents in today's language puts primary source documents in your hands, and they are very exciting. You don't have to worry about those S's that look like F's (there is even a chapter in the book about those oddities). Grammar and spelling have changed quite a bit in the last couple of centuries, and I won't even bring up punctuation and paragraph changes. Moreover, finding indentation is a fool's quest. However, with this book, all of those hindrances have been given a thorough updating. In other words, these four documents have been adapted in today's language for all ages.

To read Paine's Common Sense is an astounding American adventure. When you are done, you will wish you had written a similar letter to your worst enemy. Common Sense is an amazing persuasive essay, full of metaphors and figurative language. It's a rant against monarchy, a list of caustic complaints against King George III, and an amazingly incisive summary of the strengths, gifts, values, and emerging culture of future America. But most importantly, at the tipping point of Colonial America, Common Sense became a roadmap for revolution. And, it was published 176 days before the Declaration of Independence.

Thank goodness I found my publisher, Savas Beatie. Out of literally dozens of publishing houses, they were the only company that truly understood the philosophy behind the text. And thanks to them, this book went from just my classroom, to living rooms and classrooms across the country. It seems that people of all ages have wanted to read our most cherished history.

If you get a chance, go to the book's website: NewCommonSenseBook.com. No advertising there, just additional history content and all the activities in the book can be downloaded for free. You can even make your own wanted poster of King George III.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Best Wishes,

Mark Wilensky

I'm a classroom teacher, and the most important thing I can tell you about myself is the philosophy behind writing this book. In other words, let's skip to the good stuff. This book IS adapted founding documents. Four whoppers. Yet, these four had generally been ignored; and I had never met anyone who had read the originals. (Lots of schools, students and adults are reading them now.) These docu... More