Thomas Woods
- ️Fri May 01 2009
Infobox Writer
name = Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
caption =
birthdate =
birthplace = United States
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Historian, scholar
movement =
influences = Ludwig von Mises, Murray N. Rothbard, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
influenced =
religion = Roman Catholic
spouse = Heather Woods:"For the California legislator, see Tom Woods (politician)."Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American historian and "New York Times" bestselling author.
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". ["About Thomas Woods Jr." "ThomasEWoods.com." [http://www.thomasewoods.com/abouttom1.htm] ] He is also an associate scholar of the Abbeville Institute.
Woods was present at the founding of the League of the South, [Woods, Thomas. "In Case You Were Wondering." "LewRockwell.com". 19 February 2005. [http://blog.lewrockwell.com/lewrw/archives/007450.html#more] ] and has contributed to its newsletter. [Young, Cathy. "Behind the Jeffersonian Veneer." "Reason". June 2005. [http://www.reason.com/news/show/36170.html] ] His past membership in the group has generated criticism, [Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. "Review Essay: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History." "Journal of Libertarian Studies". Spring 2006. [http://mises.org/journals/jls/20_2/20_2_4.pdf] ] but Woods asserts his involvement was limited.
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 associate editor of "The Latin Mass Magazine", which advocates traditional Catholicism. His 2005 book, "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization", is the basis for "The Catholic Church: Builder of Civilization", a thirteen-episode television series airing on EWTN in 2008. The series examines the Church's influence on law, morality, science, and scholarship. ["Around the Diocese." "The Catholic Voice Online". 18 February 2008. [http://www.catholicvoiceoakland.org/08-02-18/aroundthediocese.htm] ]
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", "Human Rights Review", "Catholic Historical Review", and the "Catholic Social Science Review". He is a contributing editor of "The American Conservative".
His most popular book to date was the 2004 "New York Times" bestseller"New York Times" "Bestseller List" (Paperback non-fiction), 9 January 2005 [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/books/bestseller/0109bestpapernonfiction.html?ex=1128916800&en=f33ffdf8dd939271&ei=5070] ] "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" (Regnery Publishing, 2004).
Views on 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." [ [http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods20.html "The Split on the Right,"] interview of Thomas Woods by "Die Tagespost"]
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 [http://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=79 "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. Woods has called for a strict interpretation of the United States Constitution, or preferably, the Articles of Confederation. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods92.html]
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. ["The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History: Lecture Series." Mises Institute. [http://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=93] ] 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. ["ISI Announces 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award Winners." "YahooNews". 14 February 2007. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070214/pl_usnw/isi_announces2006_templeton_enterprise_award_winners] ]
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 [Woods, Thomas E. "Are Capitalists Bamboozling the Poor?" "Mises.org". 16 August 2006. [http://www.mises.org/story/2279] ] 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. Calcutta's daily, "The Telegraph" cited Woods's Law in reference to the potential effects of the expansion of Wal-Mart's ventures in India. ["Food Chain." "The Telegraph". 8 August 2007. [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070808/asp/opinion/story_8162853.asp] ]
Bibliography
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" (2007) ISBN 0307346684
*"Sacred Then and Sacred Now: The Return of the Old Latin Mass" (2007) ISBN 9780979354021
*"Who Killed the Constitution?: The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush" (co-authored with Kevin Gutzman; 2008) ISBN 978-0307405753)
*"Beyond Distributism" (2008)
As Editor
*cite book| title=The American Republic| first=Orestes| last=Brownson| year=2003, reprint of 1875 edition| id=ISBN 0-89526-072-7| publisher=Gateway Editions
*cite book|title=The Political Writings of Rufus Choate|last=Choate|first=Rufus|year=2002|id=ISBN 0-89526-154-5| publisher=Gateway Editions
*cite book| title=The Betrayal of the American Right| first=Murray| last=Rothbard| year=2007| id=ISBN 978-1-933550-13-8| publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute
*cite book| title=We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now| year=2007| id=ISBN 1568583850| publisher=Basic Books (Co-edited with Murray Polner.)
Notes
External links
* [http://www.thomasewoods.com/ Thomas Woods] Official web site (with appearances schedule)
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods-arch.html Thomas Woods archive at LewRockwell.com]
* [http://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=showname&ID=424 Thomas Woods media archive at Mises.org]
* [http://www.takimag.com/site/archive/thomaswoods Thomas Woods archive at TakiMag.com]
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