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Tom Shachtman

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You are here: Home / Archives for Books / Home Page Books

Home Page Books

ECHOES or, The Insistence of Memory

June 16, 2023

Ell, a millennial of European and Mexican heritage, has one humorous children’s book published, but her more serious writing projects are stalled, her boyfriend has dumped her, and she is deeply frightened by a recurring dream.  To solve her problems she delves into family mysteries – Civil War-era slaveholding, madness, and theft of artifacts.  The […]

Filed Under: Histories, Home Page Books

THE MEMOIR OF THE MINOTAUR

September 9, 2020

A novel Published by MADVILLE PUBLISHING. Prepublication praise: “A romping confessional riff on the classic tale, a portrait of the artist as a young bull. Shachtman’s rollicking prose weaves mythology into a gripping yarn and gives antiquity’s voiceless celebrity monster a soaring human heart.” -Charles Graeber, NYT bestselling author of The Good Nurse and The Breakthrough.  “A fine read.  Exciting, […]

Filed Under: Histories, Home Page Books

THE FOUNDING FORTUNES: HOW THE WEALTHY PAID FOR AND PROFITED FROM AMERICA’S REVOLUTION

September 23, 2019

St. Martin’s Press in January 2020: THE FOUNDING FORTUNES: HOW THE WEALTHY PAID FOR AND PROFITED FROM AMERICA’S REVOLUTION Pre-publication praise: “An ingenious examination of how money played the central role in the founding of the United States … Shachtman emphasizes that [after the Revolution] no mass movement demanded change. The Constitution was championed “by […]

Filed Under: Histories, Home Page Books

HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA: SOLDIERS, SAILORS, DIPLOMATS, LOUIS XVI, AND THE SUCCESS OF A REVOLUTION

April 7, 2017

St. Martin’s Press in September 2017: HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA: SOLDIERS, SAILORS, DIPLOMATS, LOUIS XVI, AND THE SUCCESS OF A REVOLUTION. Pre-publication praise: “The author makes a convincing case that, without France, the United States may never have gained independence.”  Kirkus Reviews. “Shachtman illuminates the impact of French contributions to American military leadership, resources, […]

Filed Under: Histories, Home Page Books

Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of Enlightenment

February 2, 2014

C-Span’s taping of lecture about this book at the New York Public Library The book is a Featured Alternate for the History Book Club, Military Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Book-of-the-Month Club 2. Adapted excerpt: George Washington, the First Vaxxer  at The Daily Beast Praise for Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries “A fascinating and […]

Filed Under: Home Page Books

American Iconoclast: The Life and Times of Eric Hoffer

February 2, 2013

“Excellent new biography …. [Hoffer’s] name has gradually faded from view. Yet, as his biographer points out, Hoffer continues to contribute insightful ideas and opinions to society, which is why we ought to look to his writings once again.” – The New Criterion, September 2012 Known as the longshoreman philosopher, Eric Hoffer was a beloved […]

Filed Under: Books, Home Page Books

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Primary Sidebar

New for 2023

Publication of ECHOES, OR THE INSISTENCE OF MEMORY, August 2023. Pre-orders available on Amazon and Madville Publishing

Manuscript evaluation and editing for individual students based on my extensive publication history and many years teaching at major university writing programs.

Fees and schedules available upon request.  Payment by Paypal or check…

Published in 2020: THE MEMOIR OF THE MINOTAUR, a novel, from Madville Publishing; and THE FOUNDING FORTUNES: HOW THE WEALTHY PAID FOR AND PROFITED FROM AMERICA’S REVOLUTION, from St. Martin’s Press.

Podcast about THE FOUNDING FORTUNES with Walter Woodward, State Historian for Connecticut

Digital-Only Publications

The first volumes in my historical novel series, The Eagle’s Claw, about a secret, private organization that undertakes tasks for the President – some illegal, some scandalous, and all extraordinary — that the government cannot do but that need doing.

“The Pirate of Lake Erie,”

and
“The Perilous Letter of the Apalachicola.”

… and the non-fiction tale, The Commies, the Jewish Mob, the Union and My Grandfather: The Fur-Worker Wars of the 1920s.

Secondary Sidebar

About Tom


Photo (c) by Anne Day

Hi, I’m Tom Shachtman, author, filmmaker and educator. I’ve written forty books, mostly for mainstream publishers, as well as television documentaries seen on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and other channels, and lectured at universities from Harvard to Georgia Tech to Stanford, and at libraries from the New York Public to the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the Newberry in Chicago, and the Hoover Institution.

My trilogy of books providing new perspectives on the American Revolution are now all in print. THE FOUNDING FORTUNES (2020); HOW THE FRENCH SAVED AMERICA (2017); and GENTLEMEN SCIENTISTS AND REVOLUTIONARIES (2014).

Earlier books continue to attract attention.

ABSOLUTE ZERO was recently reviewed as an important classic in the
Feb. 1, 2022 issue of Forbes

WHOEVER FIGHTS MONSTERS, written with Robert K. Ressler, an international bestseller, is now a must-have audio book for those interested in serial killers. AMERICAN ICONOCLAST, my biography of Eric Hoffer, the “longshoreman philosopher,” was occasion for a recent interview with Canadian Broadcasting. In December 2019, SKYSCRAPER DREAMS, my history of the builders of New York City, was the top recommendation for holiday reading of the real-estate industry magazine The Real Deal. ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD was featured on several recent must-read lists of popular science.

More details about these and other books are in the following pages of this website. Read on!

Reference Sites

  • Connecticut Humanities Council
  • Edmond D. Pope For more information on my co-author, a former U.S. naval officer wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, the story we told in TORPEDOED!
  • Housatonic Heritage information about the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area
  • The Lakeville Journal
  • The Writers Room
  • TobaccoFree For more information on my co-author, Patrick Reynolds, and anti-smoking campaigns.

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