Thomas Fleming (historian)

For other people of the same name, see Thomas Fleming (disambiguation).
Thomas Fleming

Thomas Fleming in 2009
Born (1927-07-05) July 5, 1927
Jersey City, New Jersey
Occupation Historian, Novelist
Notable works The Officers' Wives
Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge
Website
www.thomasflemingwriter.com

Thomas James Fleming (born July 5, 1927) is an American military historian and historical novelist and the author of over forty nonfiction and fiction titles. His work reflects a particular interest on the American Revolution, with titles such as Liberty! The American Revolution And The Future Of America, Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the History of America and Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge.

He is the only author ever to have won main selections for the Book-of-the-Month Club in both fiction and nonfiction categories. He is best known for his appearances in C-Span, PBS, A&E, and the History Channel.

Early life

Fleming was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father was an Irish-American World War I hero, and his mother taught at the Jersey City Public School System prior to her marriage. After graduating from St. Peter's Preparatory School, Jersey City, in 1945, Fleming joined the US Navy, where he spent a year. He received a bachelor's degree, with honors from Fordham University in 1950.

Positions held

He has served as president of the Society of American Historians and the PEN American Center. Fleming also spent ten years as chairman of the New York American Revolution Round Table and is an Honorary Member of the New York State Society of the Cincinnati since 1975. He lives now in New York with his wife, Alice, a distinguished writer of books for young people.[1]

Literary career

After brief stints as a newspaperman and magazine editor, he became a full-time writer in 1960. His first history book, Now We Are Enemies, an account of the Battle of Bunker Hill, was published that same year.

Since then, Fleming has published a long list of books about various events and figures of the Revolutionary era. He has also written about other periods of American history, and has written over a dozen well-received novels set against various historical backgrounds. He said, "I never wanted to be an Irish-American writer, my whole idea was to get across that bridge and be an American writer.

Immersing himself in American history, and writing books on Colonial families and military men, helped him build such a bridge. Besides his well-received early novels, with stories set in the waning days of Irish-American political power, Fleming has published acclaimed biographies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. He has written extensively on the American Revolution and both world wars. Seven of his novels trace the fortunes of one family in particular, the Stapletons, through different historical periods: "These novels are my exemplars of how people are hammered by history, tortured by it, absorbed by it. They say a lot about the American experience."

Starting with the Revolution, Fleming says, Americans have been torn by what he calls "the great dichotomy:" the clash between American ideals and brutal political and economic realities. It was a conflict he saw firsthand as a sailor aboard the warship USS Topeka in the Pacific at the close of World War II, and later while he was conducting research for a history of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He lived at West Point from 1964 to 1968,) and interviewed officers and their families as the controversy over America's involvement in the Vietnam War intensified.

That was my first really strong exposure to America's secular idealism. These guys have this ideal of duty, honor, country, but in the real world, in the Army, a lot of other things are going on. There's throat-cutting careerism, hostility from the civilian community, and always the possibility that at the bottom line, there's going to be a body bag.[2]

Bibliography

Histories

Novels

References

  1. ↑ "Biography of Thomas Fleming". www.thomasflemingwriter.com.
  2. ↑ B.U. Bridge, Volume 5, No. 2, September 28, 2001

Sources

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