A Fellow Author, Now Gone, and His Kind Note

I only recently learned that one of America’s most prolific historians, Thomas Fleming, passed away July 23, 2017, at his home in Manhattan, at 90, which struck me especially because Tom – whom I never met – had picked up my book the previous spring and liked it so much that he took to my website and used the “contact” page to write me a note: 

“Kevin – I just got my copy.  I’ve read the first two chapters.  It’s a fascinating book.  I’ve heard so much about the Czech legion – but knew virtually nothing.  It’s a saga!”

I saw a C-SPAN interview with Tom years ago, where I detected an infectious enthusiasm for ideas, history, and people – but he didn’t have to write that note.

The New York Times said Tom authored more than 40 works of non-fiction and fiction, but his own website lists 76 books.  While most of them were histories of the period of the American Revolution, I really enjoyed his terrific history of U.S. involvement in World War One, The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I (New York: Basic Books), one of the roughly 10,000 books I consulted while writing my own, Dreams of a Great Small Nation (New York: Public Affairs).

The New York Times obituary:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/books/thomas-fleming-dead-historian-and-historical-novelist.html

Tom’s website:  http://www.thomasflemingwriter.com/bio.html

Rest in peace.