Thomas Woods

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Thomas Woods
Thomas Woods

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (born 1972) is an American historian and author.

Contents

[edit] Education and affiliations

He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. He served as a history department faculty member at Suffolk Community College in New York until 2006, and is now resident scholar and senior faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute (LvMI), as well as a member of the editorial board for the institute's Journal of Libertarian Studies.[1] He is also an associate scholar of the Abbeville Institute.

[edit] Catholicism, history, and political incorrectness

Woods is a convert to the Roman Catholic Church and author of The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. He is best known for his 2004 bestseller[2] The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (Regnery Publishing, 2004). He is associate editor of The Latin Mass Magazine, which supports traditional Catholicism, and a contributing editor of The American Conservative.

Woods's writing has appeared in numerous popular and scholarly periodicals, including the American Historical Review, the Christian Science Monitor, Investor's Business Daily, Modern Age, American Studies, Journal of Markets & Morality, New Oxford Review, The Freeman, Independent Review, Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, AD2000 , Crisis, and Human Rights Review.

Woods' best-selling 2004 book
Woods' best-selling 2004 book

[edit] Woods' flavor of Conservatism

In articles he has written dealing with the political spectrum of Americans, Woods makes a sharp distinction between conservative thinkers with whom he sympathizes, and neoconservative thinkers. In articles, lectures and interviews Woods traces the intellectual and political lineage of both the older conservative, or paleoconservative, school of thought and the neoconservative school of thought. Of the latter he writes:

The conservative’s traditional sympathy for the American South and its people and heritage, evident in the works of such great American conservatives as Richard M. Weaver and Russell Kirk, began to disappear.... [T]he neocons are heavily influenced by Woodrow Wilson, with perhaps a hint of Theodore Roosevelt.... They believe in an aggressive U.S. presence practically everywhere, and in the spread of democracy around the world, by force if necessary.... Neoconservatives tend to want more efficient government agencies; paleoconservatives want fewer government agencies. They generally admire President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his heavily interventionist New Deal policies. Neoconservatives have not exactly been known for their budget consciousness, and you won’t hear them talking about making any serious inroads into the federal apparatus.[3]

[edit] Reception of Woods's work in academia

In June of 2005 Thomas Woods gave a series of ten lectures at the Ludwig von Mises Institute entitled "The Truth About American History: An Austro-Jeffersonian Perspective" as part of a seminar devoted entirely to Woods and his own areas of interest in American history.

He also hosted an eight-lecture seminar covering the material in his book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, to the Auburn University Academy for Lifelong Learners, hosted by the Mises Institute.[4] On 14 February 2007, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute announced that Woods' 2005 book, The Church and the Market, was the winner of the top prize in the books category of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Awards.[5]

[edit] Woods's Law

In August 2006, Woods coined "Woods's Law," which states that,

Whenever the private sector introduces an innovation that makes the poor better off than they would have been without it, or that offers benefits or terms that no one else is prepared to offer them, someone—in the name of helping the poor—will call for curbing or abolishing it.

He applied this law in an article that discussed tax refund anticipation loans and efforts to halt such practices, which he argues are based on the assumption that such loans exploit the poor.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] As Author

  • The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy (2005), ISBN 0-7391-1036-5
  • The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era (2004), ISBN 0-231-13186-0
  • The Great Facade: Vatican II and the Regime of Novelty in the Catholic Church (co-authored with Christopher Ferrara; 2002), ISBN 1-890740-10-1
  • How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (2005), ISBN 0-89526-038-7
  • The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (2004), ISBN 0-89526-047-6
  • 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask (Forthcoming, July 2007) ISBN 0307346684

[edit] As Editor

  • Brownson, Orestes (2003, reprint of 1875 edition). The American Republic. Gateway Editions. ISBN 0-89526-072-7. 
  • Choate, Rufus (2002). The Political Writings of Rufus Choate. Gateway Editions. ISBN 0-89526-154-5. 
  • Rothbard, Murray (2007). The Betrayal of the American Right. Ludwig von Mises Institute.  (Forthcoming, 2007 [5])

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "About Thomas Woods Jr." ThomasEWoods.com. [1]
  2. ^ [2] New York Times "Bestseller List" (Paperback non-fiction), 9 January 2005
  3. ^ "The Split on the Right," interview of Thomas Woods by Die Tagespost
  4. ^ "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History: Lecture Series." Mises Institute. [3]
  5. ^ "ISI Announces 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award Winners." YahooNews. 14 February 2007.[4]

[edit] External links

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