Tom Woods
Thomas E. Woods, Jr. is an American historian and author. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Harvard University and a doctorate in history from Columbia University. He has been a history department faculty member at Suffolk Community College in New York.
Woods is a Roman Catholic and author of The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. He is best known for his 2005 bestseller[1] The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History.
Thomas Woods' political and ideological leanings are a source of confusion for some. He at times has referred to himself as a conservative and said that he opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq "for conservative reasons." At other times he refers to himself as a libertarian, is severe in his criticism of today's Republican Party, and makes clear his fundamentally rooted and near total disagreement with the types of politicians who are commonly described as conservative today in the United States.
When speaking informally at a short conference of the Mises Institute in October of 2004, Woods suggested that maybe he could label himself as "Rockwellian" instead of libertarian or conservative. "Rockwellian" was a reference to Llewellyn Rockwell, the founder and president of the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama. Woods is affiliated with, and has lectured at, the Mises Institute, a private scholarly organization devoted to furthering scholarship and education in various disciplines related to the Austrian School of economics, as represented by economists Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
In articles he has written dealing with the political spectrum of Americans, Woods makes a sharp distinction between what used to be called a conservative thinker, like Richard Weaver or Russell Kirk, and what Woods and others call " neoconservative" thinkers. It is clear that Woods' sympathies lie with the former. 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 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."
Thomas Woods expressed dismay that his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History was reviewed as if it were aimed at defending the beliefs of American conservatives in general. In particular he was disappointed by reviewers who likely had not read the book, who in numerous cases tried to associate the book with leading pundits of popular American conservatism, like Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh.
Woods spoke about this confusion the Austrian Scholars Conference of the Mises Institute in 2005, suggesting that many of his critics "have such a problem making distinctions." Woods went on to explain to the audience that the views he actually would be willing to defend were "an older tradition... that isn't maniacally focused on war, that's focused on decentralization of power."
Amongst people who write about history, Thomas Woods has often ended up as an intellectual counterweight, drawing the attention of students toward the viewpoints that have been disregarded and marginalized by many of those writing about American history. When writing about the American Civil War, he directs attention to the less flattering portrayals of Abraham Lincoln and arguments in favor of the political rights of the southern states. He has directed the attention of students to scholarship questioning the value of antitrust legislation and collective labor legislation. He exposes students to the scholarly writers who are critical of Roosevelt's New Deal. He has shown a willingness to discuss unflattering information about a variety of enormously popular American politicians and some popular American wars.
In June of 2005 Thomas Woods gave a series of ten lectures at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, 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.
Books by Thomas Woods
- The Great Facade: Vatican II and the Regime of Novelty in the Catholic Church (co-authored with Christopher Ferrara; 2002), ISBN 1890740101
- The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era (2004), ISBN 0231131860
- The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (2004), ISBN 0895260476
- How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization (2005), ISBN 0895260387
- The Church and Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy (2005), ISBN 0739110365