Quick Facts
Biography
Thomas Ernest "Tom" Woods, Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American historian, political commentator, author, and podcaster. Woods is a New York Times Best-Selling author and has published twelve books. He has written extensively on the subjects including the history of the United States, catholicism, contemporary politics, and economics. Woods is proponent of the Austrian school of economics, although not an economist himself. Woods is Host of the Tom Woods Show and Contra Krugman podcast.
Education and affiliations
Woods holds an A.B. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, both in History. He is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama and a member of the editorial board for the Institute's Libertarian Papers.
Woods is also an associate scholar of the Abbeville Institute, in McClellanville, South Carolina. The mission of the Abbeville Institute is to preserve and present what is true and valuable in the Southern tradition. The fellowship has grown to over 170 scholars and associates. Among other activities, the Institute has conducted annual summer schools for college and graduate students, conferences for academics, and educational programs for the public.
Woods was an ISI Richard M. Weaver Fellow in 1995–96. He received the 2004 O.P. Alford III Prize for Libertarian Scholarship and an Olive W. Garvey Fellowship from the Independent Institute in 2003.
He has additionally been awarded two Humane Studies Fellowships and a Claude R. Lambe Fellowship from the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. His 2005 book, The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy, won the $50,000 first prize in the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Awards.
Woods is a founding member of the League of the South, a Southern nationalist organization, and a contributing author to the League's journal, The Southern Patriot. His association has generated criticism as the League of the South is identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centeras the group believes slavery was justified, non-whites are inferior, interracial marriage is wrong, and that diversity equates white genocide.
Despite being a founding member and frequent contributor to their journal, Woods asserts his involvement with the group has been limited.
Publications
Woods is the author of twelve books. His book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History was on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperbacks in 2005. His 2009 book Meltdown also made the bestseller list in 2009. His writing has been published 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, the Catholic Social Science Review and The American Conservative.
Politically Incorrect Guide to American History has numerous criticisms. Joe Lockhardof Arizona State University says that Woods is an outspoken critic of the work calling it "This is not simply bad history; it is excruciatingly incompetent history" and that it "provides a version of US history based on a set of rants that is highly selective in terms of the history it is willing to admit happened" by omitting large portions of history delibritelyThe Boston Globe also notes Woods "selective approach to facts" and the New York Times notes it is full of "dubious assertions" and that Woods has written "a book in which major historical events that do not fit his biases are omitted, in favor of minutiae that do."
Views
On Catholicism
Woods was received into the Roman Catholic Church from Lutheranism. He wrote How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. For eleven years, he was associate editor of The Latin Mass Magazine, which advocates traditional Catholicism. As a traditionalist Catholic, Woods is also recognized for his books attacking the post-Vatican II church. Woods advocates what he calls the Old Latin Mass and cultural conservatism.
On Conservatism
Woods makes a sharp distinction between paleoconservative thinkers, with whom he sympathizes, and neoconservative thinkers. In articles, lectures and interviews Woods traces the intellectual and political distinction between 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. (How they will reconcile their alleged commitment to democracy with the obvious fact that most freely elected governments in the Middle East would be anti-American will be interesting to see.) And they believe that any other country's opposition to their belligerence can be explained only by weakness or moral perversity. They are like spoiled children, both in their thinking and their behavior, not to mention their ignorance of history. It's embarrassing. And although the neoconservatives portray themselves as free-marketeers (as opposed to the allegedly anti-market traditional conservatives or paleoconservatives), this claim is misleading. 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.
These views have provoked a strong response from some conservatives. On the release of Woods' Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, the book was scathingly reviewed by Max Boot of The Weekly Standard. Boot accused Woods of being overly sympathetic with Southerners such as John C. Calhoun while exaggerating the militarism of FDR, Truman, and Clinton. James Haley's Weekly Standard review of the book, in contrast, stated that it "provides a compelling rebuttal to the liberal sentiment encrusted upon current history texts..." the book is "ultimately about truth" and "[t]his is a book everyone interested in American history should have in his library."Woods concluded his reply to Boot's review by saying "[s]ince in my judgment Max Boot embodies everything that is wrong with modern conservatism, his opposition is about the best endorsement I could have asked for."
Podcasts
Tom Woods Show
Since September 2013, Woods has delivered a daily podcast, The Tom Woods Show, originally hosted on investment broker Peter Schiff's website. On the podcasts, which are now archived on Woods' own website, Woods conducts interviews on economic topics, foreign policy, and history.
Contra Krugman
In September 2015, Woods began Contra Krugman, a weekly podcast, with economist Robert P. Murphy that critiques the New York Times columns of economist Paul Krugman. The podcasts seek to teach economics "by uncovering and dissecting the errors of Krugman."