There are multiple genres that Thomas Paine's Common Sense could be classified with. A general genre you could certainly classify it as is "non-fiction," but that's a bit too vague. The sub-genres where Paine's work could go are social sciences, classics, politics, philosophy, and American history (or history in general for that matter).

Let me provide the rationale for each classification.

non-fiction: This is a true work of literature. Let's be clear about that.

social science: more specific than non-fiction, but politics, philosophy (which could also be regarded as a humanity), and American history

classic: the book is a classic. It truly changed the course of history To this day, numerous people rely on the book for wisdom. For example, whatever you may think about Mitt Romney (the former Massachusetts governor and front runner for the Republican nomination for its party's presidential candidate) quoted from it in his victory speech following his victory in Florida in 2012. Furthermore, many book publishers publish it in their classics division. For example, Penguin publishes it under "Penguin Classics."

philosophy: the book describes Paine's philosophy. It is a type of popular philosophy, written in language that the common man could understand unlike some other writers from the time period (Locke, Rousseau, Montesqieu). You could understand the pamphlet as presenting a particular philosophy on politics because it describes how governments origin, how the should be designed, reflecting Paine's thoughts on monarchy, the state of American affairs in the mid 1770s, while describing an optimistic view of America's abilities to fight a revolution against what was then the most powerful army in the world.

politics / political science: Common Senseinfluenced a political transformation that took place in what became the United States, namely the American Revolution. The reasons for this classification are very similar to the one on philosophy.

history: It is a work within a particular context. More specifically, Paine has provided us with a primary source from the American Revolution (1775-81).

Depending on how diverse your book collection is, Common Sense could be classified in various ways. Suppose you are a historian or a history student, or a history lover. You might have hundreds of history books. You might want to arrange Paine alongside your American history books, or your books on the American Revolution. Perhaps if you were a philosopher, you might classify Paine differently, alongside your American philosophers (as opposed to your Germans, your Britishers, your Frenchmen, et cetera). Or you might want to classify Paine alongside Enlightenment thinkers, as opposed to ancients, existentialists, and your post-modernists. These are all hypotheticals; classification is more of a subjective thing than an objective one.

If you were looking in the library for this book, your best bet would be to find it in your history section. The Dewey decimal code would probably be around 973, in the general history of the United States.

Other suggestions

American Studies: It is a work that represents the culture and history of the United States. It is one of those quintessentially American books.

I hope this answers your question.

- A.S. Zaman