I have just started reading this and it struck me how apt his message (book published 1791) is for our present day situation. He campaigns for social responsibility in terms of social security for workers, public employment for those in need of work and abolition of laws limiting wages.
He championed the nascent republic that would become the USA and vindicated the events leading up to and during the French revolution. He heralded America as the national champion in the Western World and France as that in Europe. I wonder what he would make of America now and Europe's rocky road to economic as well as social integration?
His repudiation of the monarchy by ridiculing their presumption that they had rights to govern beyond the grave caused consternation amongst the ruling classes and Parliament labelled him seditious, banned the book and prosecuted him for treason.
I personally think that this bestseller should be studied in secondary schools by all children to educate them about the interdependency of social governance awakening that led to reforms in the UK, Europe and drove the establishment of what is now the USA.