Tom Shachtman
Since I always wanted to be a writer, I consider myself fortunate to have had my work published and produced in many forms—40 histories, novels, and books for children, plus filmed documentaries and TV dramas, poetry, plays, songs, newspaper columns, magazine articles, even a comic book. My newest book (January 2020) is THE FOUNDING FORTUNES: HOW THE WEALTHY PAID FOR AND PROFITED FROM AMERICA’S REVOLUTION. This completes a trilogy of books on the Revolutionary Era; the earlier ones are GENTLEMEN SCIENTISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES, and HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA. My book ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD, about 400 years of research into low temperatures, became the basis for a two-hour documentary special for BBC and PBS. The program and my script for it won the American Institute of Physics’ science writing award for 2009. The book itself was praised by The New York Times Book Review as written “with passion and clarity,” by the Library Journal as “truly wonderful,” and by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as “an absolute delight.” Many of my other books have also received welcome critical praise. Library Journal wrote of RUMSPRINGA: TO BE OR NOT TO BE AMISH that is provided “a near-unprecedented glimpse into the inner lives of Amish society.” The Economist called AROUND THE BLOCK “a near-classic,” The New Yorker “A grand idea, splendidly executed,” and The Washington Post Book World “thoughtful, interesting … a good and useful book.” THE INARTICULATE SOCIETY was judged as “perceptive and disturbing” by The Washington Post, and by The Wall Street Journal as “a provocative examination of the American way with words.” Business Week labeled SKYSCRAPER DREAMS “fascinating history … the stuff of grand comedy,” and The New York Times cited it for “superb reporting on the industry’s wheeling and dealing.” “Fascinating … illuminating … stunning detail,” the Chicago Tribune wrote of THE GILDED LEAF (written with Patrick Reynolds). I’ve also written books for children, including three novels, BEACHMASTER, WAVEBENDER and DRIFTWHISTLER, now published in several languages. My non-fiction children’s books include THE PRESIDENT BUILDS A HOUSE, about the work of Habitat for Humanity and, with my wife Harriet Shelare, VIDEO POWER. My collaborations with criminologist Robert K. Ressler, the man who coined the term serial killers and knew more about them than anyone else, include WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS and I HAVE LIVED IN THE MONSTER, both multi-million-copy best-sellers overseas. My articles have appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, Smithsonian, and the Hoover Digest, as well as on the websites of The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, History News Network, and the Journal of the American Revolution. My occasional column for THE LAKEVILLE JOURNAL (CT), “The Long View,’ provides historical context to current events. I am a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, a longtime member of The Authors Guild, and a former president of the board and current trustee of The Writers Room in New York City, an urban writers’ colony. I’ve also served as a trustee of the Connecticut Humanities Council, and of The Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area.
26 Books Written
With this book, Thames and Hudson's renowned Most Beautiful Villages series turns its attention for the first time to America. Honored as the birthplace of the Revolution, the six states that comprise New England are home to some of this country's most beautiful and cherished villages--places that preserve and reflect its architectural and cultural legacy. Here, in countless public squares and cem
I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Goldman and 'the Joint' : Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.5 ⭐
The biography of a remarkable man driven by a simple missionto help those in need, wherever they are foundand the story of an organization, which has, since 1914, sponsored rescue, relief and reconstruction programs throughout the world. Founded over 85 years ago as a response to the plight of Palestinian Jews caught up in the agony of World War I, the American Joint Distribution Committee (altern
Rumspringa is Tom Shachtman's celebrated look at a littleknown Amish coming-of-age ritual, the rumspringa—the period of "running around" that begins for their youth at age sixteen. During this time, Amish youth are allowed to live outside the bounds of their faith, experimenting with alcohol, premarital sex, revealing clothes, telephones, drugs, and wild parties. By allowing such bro
"Fascinating history, showing how the city has been molded by the edifice complexes of risk-takers. The stuff of grand comedy."-Business Week
An account of the adventures of a sea lion, including his experiences with man in a sea laboratory and his assumption of the role of beachmaster or head of the tribe.
An hour-by-hour reconstruction of the shattering events of October 24, 1929--the day the stock market crashed--as they happened on Wall Street and across the country and as they affected financial tycoons, factory workers, and farmers
In a sweeping yet marvelously concise history, Tom Shachtman ushers us into a world in which scientists tease apart the all-important secrets of cold. Readers take an extraordinary trip, starting in the 1600s with an alchemist's air conditioning of Westminster Abbey and scientists' creation of thermometers. Later, while entrepreneurs sold Walden Pond ice to tropical countries -- packed
Torpedoed: An American Businessman's True Story of Secrets, Betrayal, Imprisonment in Russia, and the Battle to
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.1 ⭐
He was a man of Edmond D. Pope -- former Naval Intelligence officer, then private businessman, in Russia looking for some answers.It was a top secret The CIA and the Canadian secret service -- out to steal one of Russia's crown the plans to a submarine torpedo that travels an astonishing 300 miles per hour.He was the new man in Vladimir Putin -- former head of the KGB, now
Terrors and Marvels: How Science and Technology Changed the Character and Outcome of World War II
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.1 ⭐
The dreadful global conflagration known as the Second World War was more than the clashing of great armies on bloody battlefields. A different kind of war was being waged in the secret laboratories on both sides of the conflict -- a war that would alter the course and determine the outcome of the bitter hostilities, forever changing our world and future. In a stunning amalgam of science and histor
Examining the crisis of articulate expression and loss of ability to argue without coming to blows, the author identifies the causes of this decline--technology, political and corporate doublespeak, proliferation of specialists--and offers a multifaceted program for rehabilitating eloquence.
Further adventures of a sea lion as he wisely leads his tribe out of various dangers.
This is the vivid, vigorously written, anecdote-filled story of the bizarre interval-the hush before the tempest-that preceded the full-scale horrors of World War II. In range and resonance it compels the reader's spellbound interest.
Dramatizes the daily life of the small businessmen and businesswomen of an average, middle-class block in New York City, illustrating in an immediate, human way the contribution of such businesses to the nation's economy and its communities.
Laboratory Warriors: How Allied Science and Technology Tipped the Balance in World War II
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 4.4 ⭐
The dreadful global conflagration known as the Second World War was more than the clashing of great armies on bloody battlefields. A different kind of war was being waged in the secret laboratories on both sides of the conflict -- a war that would alter the course and determine the outcome of the bitter hostilities, forever changing our world and our future. While it is a widely accepted fact that
A photo essay depicts the non-profit organization of volunteers that renovate or build houses for needy families as, with former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter's participation as volunteers
At the head of a band of thirteen different species of sea mammals, Daniel the sea lion seeks to fulfill a legend and find Pacifica, the long-drowned, ancient home cove of their race.
Drawing on recently released letters and diaries of Woodrow Wilson and Edith Galt, Shachtman presents an intimate account of their passionate romance and marriage against a backdrop of world events during Wilson's presidency
Chronicles the social, political, and economic events that marked the 1963-74 decade and analyzes the lasting effects of that series of shocks on the American national consciousness
A photo-essay about the daily activities of two Masai children presents information on the culture, ceremonies, superstitions, and legends of this nomadic tribe of herdsmen
Tells the story of the training, organization, and rehearsals needed to present the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, with full-color photographs from behind the scenes
Airlift to America: How Barack Obama, Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.6 ⭐
This is the long-hidden saga of how a handful of Americans and East Africans fought the British colonial government, the U.S. State Department, and segregation to transport to, or support at, U.S. and Canadian universities, between 1959 and 1963, nearly 800 young East African men and women who would go on to change their world and ours. The students supported included Barack Obama Sr., future fath
In this biography, historian and social analyst Tom Shachtman offers the clearest and most detailed examination to date of one of America's most influential thinkers. Known as the "longshoreman philosopher," Eric Hoffer was a beloved and controversial figure with veiled origins. Using Hoffer's never-before-seen archives, Shachtman uncovers the steps by which this unschooled migrant field hand and
Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of Enlightenment
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.5 ⭐
Science and experimentation were at the heart of the Founding Fathers' philosophies and actions. The Founders relentlessly tinkered, invented, farmed by means of scientific principles, star-gazed, were fascinated by math, used scientific analogies and scientific thinking in their political writing, and fell in love with technologies. They conceived of the United States of America as a grand "exper
How the French Saved America: Soldiers, Sailors, Diplomats, Louis XVI, and the Success of a Revolution
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.9 ⭐
Americans today have a love/hate relationship with France, but in How the French Saved America Tom Shachtman shows that without France, there might not be a United States of America.To the rebelling colonies, French assistance made the difference between looming defeat and eventual triumph. Even before the Declaration of Independence was issued, King Louis XVI and French foreign
The Commies, the Jewish Mob, the Union, and My Grandfather:: The Fur Worker Wars of the 1920s
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
The true story of the unholy alliance between American and Russian Communists and the Jewish mob in New York in the 1920s, to take over a union made up of immigrants and topple its centrist leader, the author’s grandfather.
The Founding Fortunes: How the Wealthy Paid for and Profited from America's Revolution
by Tom Shachtman
Rating: 3.7 ⭐
In The Founding Fortunes , h istorian Tom Shachtman reveals the ways in which a dozen notable Revolutionaries deeply affected the finances and birth of the new country while making and losing their fortunes.While history teaches that successful revolutions depend on participation by the common man, the establishment of a stable and independent United States first required wealthy colon