Course Instructor - George Owen

Course Fee - $25.00

No one had more public influence in his extremely widely read publications on why the American colonists needed ultimately to break away from the British Empire and King George III than Thomas Paine. In the class we will study in a six-week, two-hour each brief review of Paine's chief works and an overview of the American Revolution and its key battles. In the class latter stage, we move on to Paine becoming a strong influence in the subsequent French Revolution, and how he came "within a neck" of being beheaded by guillotine as was King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette and even so many of the French revolutionists. Finally we review why he soon later became very unpopular in the new USA, and died an almost unnoticed sad death, much ignored by George Washington and many others who once highly praised him and his works. This course is highly appropriate in timing for the 250th anniversary of the issuance of the Declaration of Independence in celebration of the American Revolution. 

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Instructor George Owen began his first college experience at Stetson University as a "History and Political Science" major before finally changing to another major but still retained his interest in this course of study to this day, with an emphasis on American history. He is most noted for his several ICL courses in "Outdoors and Hiking in the Southern Appalachians" along with other courses in northern Florida outdoors, modern happiness studies, and a recent class on early Greek philosophy. He grew up exploring, hunting, and fishing in the wilds of Florida as a kid, and part-time ran a large camp nature lore program some summers in his collegiate years. Eventually he and his wife Sandy had two sons and four grandchildren. He also subsequently laid out and supervised over 125 miles of new trails on the Chattahoochee National Forest and was a guide part of ten summers in Switzerland during his retirement years. He has served as president of three prominent local hiking trail clubs.