Thomas Balcerski
{{Short description|Biography on an American historian and writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{infobox writer
| name = Thomas J. Balcerski
| image =
| birth_name = Thomas J. Balcerski
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|7|9}}
| birth_place = Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S.
| education = {{Plainlist|
- Cornell University (BA, PhD)
- Stony Brook University (MA)}}
| occupation = Historian, Author, Professor
| subjects = American History, Political History, LGBTQ History
}}
Thomas J. Balcerski (born 1982){{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Balcerski, Thomas 1982-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2007079720/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=WorldCat Identities}} is an American historian, author, and professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University.{{Cite web |url=https://www.easternct.edu/faculty-directory/balcerski.html |title=Thomas Balcerski faculty profile, Eastern Connecticut State University}}{{Cite web| title=Faculty of the Future |url=https://www.easternct.edu/magazine/issues/2020/summer/faculty-of-the-future.html}}{{cite magazine |date=Spring 2016 |title=Eastern Professors are innovative, hands-on, global|url=https://issuu.com/easternctstateuniversity/docs/easternmagazinespring2016?e=12068228/48613630 |magazine=Eastern Magazine |publisher=Eastern Connecticut State University |access-date=6 April 2023}} Balcerski was named the systemwide recipient of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Faculty Research Award for 2020–21.{{Cite web| title=3 Eastern faculty receive Board of Regents Faculty Awards |url=https://www.easternct.edu/news/_stories-and-releases/2021/05-may/3-eastern-faculty-receive-board-of-regents-faculty-awards.html}} He is the author of Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King (2019).
Early life and education
Balcerski graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University in 2005 with a B.A. in American Studies and Economics. As an undergraduate, he was an active member of the Acacia (fraternity), where he served as Venerable Dean,{{Cite book |title=Acacia Fraternity at Cornell: The First Century|isbn=978-1427622488 |last1=Balcerski |first1=Thomas J. |year=2007 |publisher=Acacia Fraternity Cornell Chapter }} and received the Award of Merit for his book Acacia Fraternity at Cornell: The First Century.{{Cite web|url=https://www.acacia.org/individual-awards|title=Individual Award Winners|website=Acacia Fraternity}} The co-creator of the popular course “AMST 2001: The First American University,”{{Cite web|url=http://www.metaezra.com/docs/Earle_Syllabus.pdf|title=MetaEzra Docs}} he was also named Historian of the Cornell University Class of 2005.{{Cite web|url=https://cornelluniversity.imodules.com/s/1717/cc/class.aspx?sid=1717&gid=10&pgid=683|title=2005|website=cornelluniversity.imodules.com}} He went on to receive an M.A. in history from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2008 and later a PhD of history from Cornell University in 2014.
Career
His work broke into the mainstream media starting in 2019.{{cite web |url=https://www.easternct.edu/news/_stories-and-releases/2021/09-september/balcerskis-presidential-presentations-reach-audiences-nationwide.html |title=Balcerski's presidential presentations reach audiences nationwide |date=22 September 2021}} He was featured in the Discovery+ series “The Book of Queer,”{{cite web |url=https://www.easternct.edu/news/_stories-and-releases/2022/06-june/historian-tom-balcerski-appears-in-the-book-of-queer.html |title=Historian Tom Balcerski appears in The Book of Queer (2022) |date=8 June 2022}} where he was interviewed about President Abraham Lincoln, the National Geographic mini-series Rewind the 90s (2023),{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28240498/ |title=Rewind the '90s (TV Mini Series)' |website=IMDb |date=31 July 2023}} and the independent film Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln (2024).{{cite web |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/abraham-lincoln-lover-of-men-exclusive |first=David |last=Canfield |title=The Case That Abraham Lincoln Was a Lover of Men |newspaper=Vanity Fair |date=13 August 2024}} Balcerski has also appeared on and written for numerous media outlets including The Washington Post,{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/10/ladygraham-went-viral-not-just-because-lindsey-grahams-politics/ |title=#LadyGraham went viral — and not just because of Lindsey Graham's politics |newspaper=Washington Post |first=Thomas|last=Balcerski |date=10 June 2020}} Smithsonian (magazine),{{cite news |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/175-year-history-examining-bachelor-president-james-buchanans-close-friendship-william-rufus-king-180972992/ |title=The 175-Year History of Speculating About President James Buchanan's Bachelorhood |first=Thomas |last=Balcerski |date=27 August 2019}} and multiple pieces for CNN.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/opinions/old-school-campaign-tactic-boosts-biden-balcerski/index.html |title=The old-school campaign tactic that's boosting Biden |first=Thomas|last=Balcerski |date=23 June 2020}}{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/opinions/vice-president-best-worst-american-history-balcerski/index.html |title=The best – and worst – VP picks |first=Thomas|last=Balcerski |date=22 July 2020}}
=''Bosom Friends''=
Balcerski's first book Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King evaluates the potential sexual relationship between James Buchanan and William Rufus King.{{Cite web| title=Intimate friendships subject of new James Buchanan book; part of LancasterHistory lecture series [Q & A] |url=https://lancasteronline.com/features/intimate-friendships-subject-of-new-james-buchanan-bookpart-of/article_a5ce55f2-dc49-11e9-8cb8-1bb48b4a301a.html |date=September 22, 2019}} In the book Balcerski focuses on “the significance of male friendships”{{Project MUSE|763187|type=article |title=Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King by Thomas J. Balcerski (review) |first=Michael |last=Woods}} within the political spheres and personal lives of the antebellum period along with the complexities of political conservatism and the importance of unifying alliances for maintaining Democratic power in the antebellum period.{{Cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/bosom-friends-review-buck-his-better-half-11568991980 |title='Bosom Friends' Review: 'Buck' & His 'Better Half' |work=Wall Street Journal |first=Richard |last=Smith |date=20 September 2019}} Bosom Friends won the 2019 Best LGBTQ Biography from The Advocate (LGBT magazine).{{cite magazine |date=December 2019 |title=Best Books of the Year |url=https://issuu.com/herepublishing/docs/adv1106_dec_jan_digital |magazine=The Advocate |publisher=Capital City Press LLC |access-date=14 December 2022}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/2019/11/26/was-james-buchanan-first-gay-president |title=Was James Buchanan the First Gay President?}} The book had a positive reception, with the National Review stating “[Bosom Friends] provides a useful understanding of the way personal networks and informal groups, such as messes, ran Washington in the mid 19th century,”{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/10/14/was-james-buchanan-gay/|title=Was James Buchanan Gay?|website=National Review |date=September 26, 2019}} and the American Historical Review writing that “Balcerski impressively balances the personal and the worldly to produce an original and engaging study both of two men and of the wider antebellum world which they lived in and helped shape.”{{Cite web |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/125/3/1018/5864350/ |title=Thomas J. Balcerski. Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King.)}}
Awards
- 2022 Ray Allen Billington Visiting {{not a typo|Professor}} in U.S. History at Occidental College and a Long-Term Fellow at The Huntington.{{Cite web |url=https://www.oxy.edu/academics/areas-study/history/billington-visiting-professorship-us-history |title=Billington Visiting Professorship in U.S. History.}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/thomas-j-balcerski |title=Thomas Balcerski faculty profile, Occidental College.}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{C-SPAN|100880}}
- {{IMDb name|14060570}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balcerski, Thomas J.}}
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century American historians
Category:21st-century American male writers