Grounded Hope for
Democracy and the Earth.
Inspired by Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense
Judah Freed
UPDATED for the 250th anniversary of Common Sense – the original 1776 call for “No Kings!”
“We have it in our power to build the world over again.”
THOMAS PAINE
Paperback – published.
Hardcover – published.
eBook– published.
Audiobook – Late 2026.
Listen to audiobook Preface
Narrated by Daniel Greenberg
Excerpt from Advance Listening Copy (ALC)
“Thomas Paine rallied Americans to a new sense of themselves and their possibilities. Judah Freed does likewise for citizens of the planet.”
BILL McKIBBEN,
Here Comes the Sun The End of Nature; 350.org, People’s Climate March
BOOK AWARDS
Gold Award
– 2026 –
Government / Politics
Book Awards
– 2023 –
Memoir
Global Sense
– 2012 –
Social Change
– 2007 –
Social Change
Book Awards
– 2024 –
1. Earth Changes,
2. Social Justice,
3. Rising to the Challenge
Gold Award
– 2026 –
Nonfiction
Book Awards
– 2024 –
Culture Studies/
Social Issues
Global Sense
– 2005 –
Personal Growth
Book Award
– 2023 –
Culture
BOOK REVIEWS
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
“Some books diagnose the moment. Making Global Sense rewires how we think inside it.
What makes this book stand out is its refusal to separate democracy’s fate from the planet’s fate, or politics from personal responsibility.
Judah doesn’t write from a distance. He writes as someone who has lived through confusion, power, disillusionment, and renewal. He invites the reader to do the same reckoning.”
“Judah Freed’s Making Global Sense is a brilliant social study that extends Paine’s argument for citizen self-government into modern global politics today. The book feels extremely timely.
Freed’s writing is what I would describe as conversationally academic, translating political theory into everyday language with an inviting rhythm.
Readers drawn to civic argument in the tradition of Paine, brought into present-day politics, should find this book especially worthwhile. Very highly recommended.”
“Timely, thought-provoking, and boldly expansive, Making Global Sense challenges readers to rethink democracy and human connection in a turbulent world, offering a compelling vision for a more conscious and unified future.”
“Making Global Sense is Judah Freed’s ambitious and personal attempt to carry the spirit of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense into the crises of the twenty-first century.
Freed doesn’t write as a detached theorist arranging ideas behind glass; he writes as someone who has been bruised by the very forces he’s trying to name.
Again and again, public crisis folds into private reckoning.
His argument that democracy is not only a political structure but an inner discipline feels genuinely valuable.
I was especially moved by the way he returns to Thomas Paine not as a museum figure but as a living provocation.
I admired the book’s moral urgency.“
“A brilliant evolution of a historical classic“
“The kick in the pants we need to save democracy“
“Enlightenment Reimagined for Our Time“
“A Visionary Wake-Up Call for Our Times“
“Grounded, Hopeful, and Timely“
“A compass for a confusing world“
“This book really made me think about the world differently“
“Thought-Provoking and Timely“
“Thought-Provoking and Practical“
The Book
IN THESE TRYING TIMES of global climate change as autocracy threatens democracy, award-winning author and seasoned journalist Judah Freed weaves essay and memoir to update and extend Common Sense by Thomas Paine.
The book shows how we got to where we are today and what we can do from here. In these times of crisis, a sense of our global oneness inspires in us the personal growth necessary for social change and world repair.
Making Global Sense revives the big ideas and ideals from Thomas Paine and the 18th century Enlightenment to champion 21st century enlightenment.
“The right book
at the right time.”*
* The book took 25 years of writing to become so timely.
“Had the spirit of prophesy decreed the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time.”
THOMAS PAINE
Common Sense changed the world by changing how people made sense of the world.
Paine’s insights apply today. He helps us clearly see the forces in society and in ourselves that would rather obey a king than rule our lives and societies mindfully. Thomas Paine can help us govern our free will with self rule.
“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”
THOMAS PAINE
Why the book matters in the world today
Making Global Sense offers Thomas Paine and Common Sense as sources of hope and illumination in the difficult days ahead.
More than one billion of us on the planet are aware of our natural oneness or connectivity We have a global sensibility.
For us to survive the urgent planetary crises humanity has created over many thousands of years, do we look for a king, or do we look to ourselves? We can enter adulthood as a species by living with a global sense of our unity, so we enjoy freedom responsibly.
As we shift how we make sense of the world and our lives within it, we find within the power for personal and social transformation.
In the wake of cunning despots destroying democracy in the name of “liberty,” a global sensibility anchors us in reason and conscience, giving us the grounded hope that inspires the courage we need to build our world anew.
Making Global Sense weaves essay and memoir to balance head and heart
A book of ideas needs to balance head and heart. Judah Freed frames his essays within the personal survival story behind the book. Stories tell truths beyond ideas alone.
Judah Freed vulnerably narrates scenes from childhood abuse, school bullying; joining a cult at age 20, fleeing at 23; facing his hidden authority addiction and committing to self rule. He recalls ego follies in five decades of local to international journalism. He shares world travel adventures, like landing in Fiji amid a coup, He shares his soul choice at age 65 to survive cancer and finish this book.
Judah’s literary model for weaving essay and memoir is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. His union of theory and memoir helped Judah in youth rediscover his true self after fleeing a cult. And as a writer, he liked what Pirsig did there. He emulates that literary model here, hoping readers benefit by the blending. A big picture gestalt may emerge.
One billion global thinkers worldwide are the natural readers of Making Global Sense
The book is written for this emerging global sense movement, going by many names, which now is becoming aware of itself as a movement.
The book is written for people who care about the loss of freedom amid rising autocracy, the people who imagine a world without kings.
The book is written for anyone evolving a global sensibility, a sense of our unity and equality, who wants open democracy to work.
Making Global Sense is written for global thinkers and the “global curious,” all those opening their eyes to our global oneness, all those feeling called to help repair our world.
“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.“
THOMAS PAINE
Author of Common Sense, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, and more.
Making Global Sense uses logic and reason to argue against modern kings in the world and in our minds, instead calling for mindful freedom in direct republics. Global Sense is the right book at the right time.
Thomas Paine contributed a pivotal 1776 essay, Common Sense, that changed the course of human events. It swung colonial public opinion in favor of the American Revolution, which likely would have failed without his essay.
Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, used logic and reason to argue against a distant king ruling America. It called for freedom in a democratic republic. That made Common Sense the right book at the right time.
“A global sense of life balances free will and self rule.“
JUDAH FREED
Overview of Making Global Sense
Global Sense mirrors the structure of Paine’s Common Sense.
Part I. Our Global Awakening
Where Paine explained the nature of government and the law, the author explains our lives are governed by how we make sense of life. A billion of us see our oneness, he reports. We’re building a global sense movement.
Part II. Kings and Other Masters
Where Paine blamed monarchy and hereditary succession for despotism, the author blames ancient alpha male rule and authority addiction for the wealth and power abuses now menacing life and liberty on earth.
Part III. Thoughts on the State of World Affairs
Where Paine surveyed the scary state of American affairs in 1776, the author surveys the scary state of world affairs today, the threats to democracy and the planet, the realistic dangers of tyranny in our lands and in our minds.
Part IV. Our Ability to Change the World
Where Paine told colonists how to win a revolutionary war and wrote the plan used to create the republic, the author adapts this plan for evolving enlightened direct republics, so we build our world anew, while we can
“Judah Freed has taken the gauntlet from Thomas Paine and other great innovators of democracy to guide us toward the evolution of democracy itself. Making Global Sense is a wonderful book, well-written and inspired.”
BARBARA MARX HUBBARD
Conscious Evolution (re. First Edition)
A ‘Big Ideas’ Book
Making Global Sense invites awakening to awareness of our oneness. The book voices ideas that evolve how we make sense of our lives and our societies. A global sense of life favors freedom and democracy.
Alpha Male Rule
The ancient patriarchal system of power and wealth, inherited by fathers and sons, today drives injustice and climate change harming us all.
Authority Addiction
Our ancient habits of autocracy drive unhealthy relationships with external power, so we crave to worship kings, or else be the king that others worship.
Split Perceptions
We divide our minds with duality thinking, polarity thinking, denying our oneness. If we feel alone and powerless, our minds are easily fooled and ruled by despots.
Mindful
Self Rule
A global sensibility balances free will and self rule. When personal responsibility governs Individual sovereignty, our conscience and reason inspire creative freedom and wisdom.
Personal
Democracy
A global sense of life guides us to behave mindfully in relationships and in society, local to global, so we adopt democratic habits that enter our memes and genes to change our world.
Global Sense
Movement
More than one billion global thinkers, such as conscious consumers and Earth Day celebrants, are transforming societies around the world. The movement is awakening to itself as a movement.
Direct
Republics
We the people have a natural right of consent over the laws governing us. Paine’s plan for establishing a republic shapes a new proposal for giving us more say in self government.
“Making Global Sense is compelling in its ideas and wonderful in its personal elements!”
HERB GOLDBERG, PhD
author, The New Male; The Hazards of
Being Male; What Men Still Don’t Know.
Table of Contents
Making Global Sense mirrors Thomas Paine’s four-part structure in Common Sense .
Part I.
Our Global
Awakening
1. World Enlightenment
2. Common Global Sense
3. A Global Sense
Movement
4. Sense and Insanity
5. Split Perceptions
6. Absurdities and Atrocities
Part II.
Kings and
Other Masters
7. Alpha Male Rule
8. Authority Addiction
9.. Money and Power
Part III.
Thoughts on the State of World Affairs
10. Hazards of Autocracy
11. Clear and Present Dangers
12. Finding our Courage
Part IV.
Our Ability to
Change the World
13. Personal and Social Transformation
14. Gender Equality
and New Men
15. A Rebirth of Democracy
(Direct Republics)
16. Shadow Forces
17. Begin the World Anew
“To survive the global crises humanity has generated over centuries, do we look to a king, or do we look to ourselves and one another?“
JUDAH FREED
“Making Global Sense is at once vast and tangible, disturbing and inspiring. The book provides a sweeping overview of the critical challenges of our times. It conveys both a penetrating diagnosis and a galvanizing vision of possibility.”
OCEAN ROBBINS,
Cofounder and CEO, Food Revolution Network; author, Transform Your World.
yes
“The book is clear-eyed and novel. Judah Freed charts a path towards greener and more responsible economies that would be good for people and the planet.”
JULES PRETTY, OBE
author, The Edge of Extinction; Professor of Environment and Society, University of Essex.
Book | Ideas | Contents | Overview | Making Sense | Thomas Paine | Judah Freed | Read Book
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“Making Global Sense is a breakthrough book for people who care about their social and environmental impact in the world. The book offers us real hope when we need it most.”
JOHN MACKEY
Co-founder of Whole Foods Market; co-author
with Rajendra Sisodia, Conscious Capitalism
Book | Ideas | Contents | Overview | Making Sense | Thomas Paine | Judah Freed | Read Book
Book | Ideas | Contents | Overview | Making Sense | Thomas Paine | JJudah Freed | Read Book
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