Thomas Cahill (born 1940 in New York City) is an American scholar and writer. He is best known for The Hinges of History series, a prospective seven-volume series in which the author recounts formative moments in Western civilization.
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Born in New York City to Irish-American parents and raised in Queens and the Bronx, Cahill was educated by Jesuits and studied ancient Greek and Latin. He continued his study of Greek and Latin literature, as well as medieval philosophy, scripture and theology, at Fordham University, where he completed a B.A. in classical literature and philosophy in 1964, and a pontifical degree in philosophy in 1965. He went on to complete his M.F.A. in film and dramatic literature at Columbia University in 1968.
In anticipation of writing The Gifts of the Jews, Cahill studied scripture at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and spent two years as a Visiting Scholar at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he studied Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible. He also reads French and Italian. In 1999, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Alfred University in New York. Cahill has been a contributor to Irish America magazine.
Cahill has taught at Queens College, Fordham University, and Seton Hall University, served as the North American education correspondent for the Times of London, and was for many years a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times Book Review. Prior to retiring to write full time, he was the Director of Religious Publishing at Doubleday for six years. He and his wife, Susan, also an author, divide their time between New York and Rome.
To date, the Hinges of History series includes the following five best-selling books:
Cahill's most recent book, A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green (March 2009), is a departure from The Hinges of History series. It is both the story of Dominique Green, a young man from Houston who was on Death Row in Texas, and the impact knowing him had on Cahill. Cahill first heard about Green from Judge Sheila Murphy, the former Presiding Judge of the Sixth Municipal District Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, who was working on the appeal of the case. She requested that he visit Green, which he did in December 2003. So impressed was Cahill with Green that he joined the ultimately unsuccessful fight for Green's life, even enlisting Green's hero, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to make an historic visit to Dominique and to plead publicly for mercy. Green, thirty, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas on October 26, 2004 after 12 years on Death Row.[1]