{{short description|American novelist, essayist, and critic (born 1951)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}} {{Use American English|date=December 2023}} {{Infobox writer | name = Thomas Mallon | image = Thomas Mallon 2019 Texas Book Festival.jpg | caption = Mallon in 2019 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|11|2}} | birth_place = [[Glen Cove, New York]], U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = {{flatlist| * Novelist * essayist * critic }} | education = [[Brown University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]]) | website = {{URL|thomasmallon.com|Official website}} }} '''Thomas Mallon''' (born November 2, 1951) is an American novelist, essayist, and critic. His novels are known for their attention to historical detail and context and for the author's crisp wit and interest in the "bystanders" to larger historical events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/interviews/int2004-01-09.htm|title=Atlantic Unbound {{!}} Interviews {{!}} 2004.01.09|website=www.theatlantic.com|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref> He is the author of ten books of fiction, including ''Henry and Clara'', ''Two Moons'', ''Dewey Defeats Truman'', ''Aurora 7'', ''Bandbox'', ''Fellow Travelers'' (adapted into a [[Fellow Travelers (miniseries)|miniseries]] by the same name), ''Watergate'', ''Finale'', ''Landfall,'' and most recently ''Up With the Sun''. He has also published nonfiction on plagiarism (''Stolen Words''), diaries (''A Book of One's Own''), letters (''Yours Ever'') and the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] (''Mrs. Paine's Garage''), as well as two volumes of essays (''Rockets and Rodeos'' and ''In Fact'').
He is a former [[literary editor]] of ''[[GQ]]'', where he wrote the "Doubting Thomas" column in the 1990s, and has contributed frequently to ''[[The New Yorker]]'', ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'', ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]'', and other periodicals. He was appointed a member of the [[National Endowment for the Humanities|National Council on the Humanities]] in 2002 and served as Deputy Chairman of the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] from 2005 to 2006.
His honors include [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim]] and [[Rockefeller Foundation|Rockefeller]] fellowships, the [[National Book Critics Circle]] citation for reviewing, and the Vursell Memorial Award of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] for distinguished prose style. He was elected as a new member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 2012.<ref>"Thomas Mallon Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences." GW Today (April 19, 2012) Retrieved 2012-06-08</ref>
==Early life and education== Thomas Vincent Mallon was born in [[Glen Cove, New York]], and grew up in [[Stewart Manor, New York|Stewart Manor]], both on [[Long Island]]. His father, Arthur Mallon, was a salesman and his mother, Caroline, kept the home. Mallon graduated from [[Sewanhaka High School]] in 1969. He has often said that he had "the kind of happy childhood that is so damaging to a writer".<ref>Michael McGregor, "Thomas Mallon," Twenty-First-Century American Novelists, ''Dictionary of Literary Biography'', vol. 350. Gale Cengage Learning.</ref>
Mallon studied English at [[Brown University]], where he wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on American author [[Mary McCarthy (author)|Mary McCarthy]]. He credits McCarthy, with whom he later became friends, as the most enduring influence on his career as a writer.<ref>André Bernard, "An Interview with Thomas Mallon," ''Five Points'', vol. XIII (January 2009): 97–114.</ref> He earned a [[Master of Arts]] and a [[PhD]] from [[Harvard University]], where he wrote his [[dissertation]] on the English [[World War I]] poet [[Edmund Blunden]]. On sabbatical from [[Vassar College]] in 1982–1983, Mallon spent a year as a [[visiting scholar]] at [[St Edmund's College, Cambridge|St. Edmund's House]] (later College) at [[Cambridge University]], where he drafted most of ''A Book of One's Own'', a work of nonfiction about diarists and diary-writing.
==Career== Mallon's writing style is characterized by wit, charm and a meticulous attention to detail and character development. His nonfiction often explores "fringe" genres – diaries, letters, plagiarism – just as his fiction frequently tells the stories of characters "on the fringes of big events".<ref>André Bernard, "An Interview with Thomas Mallon," ''Five Points'', vol. XIII (January 2009): 97-114.</ref>
''A Book of One's Own'', an informal guide to the great diaries of literature, was published in 1984 and gave Mallon his first measure of critical acclaim. [[Richard Eder]], writing in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', called the book "an engaging meditation on the varied and irrepressible spirit of life that insists on preserving itself on paper." In ''A Book of One's Own'', Mallon covers a wide range of diarists from [[Samuel Pepys]] to [[Anaïs Nin]]. He explained his enthusiasm for the genre by saying: "Writing books is too good an idea to be left to authors." The success of ''A Book of One's Own'' won Mallon a [[Rockefeller Fellowship]] in 1986.<ref>Thomas Mallon, "Introduction," ''A Book of One's Own.'' Ticknor and Fields (1984).</ref> The book's unexpected success earned Mallon [[Tenure (academic)|tenure]] at Vassar College, where he taught English from 1979 to 1991.
Mallon then began publishing fiction, a genre in which he had dabbled throughout childhood and young adulthood. Mallon published his first novel, ''Arts and Sciences'', in 1988 about Arthur Dunne, a 22-year-old [[Harvard University]] graduate student in English. Soon after its publication, in 1989, Mallon released a second nonfiction book called ''Stolen Words: Forays Into the Origins and Ravages of Plagiarism''. [[File:Thomas_Mallon_in_Summer_2009.jpg|thumb|Thomas Mallon in 2009]] ''Henry and Clara'', published in 1994, established Mallon as a writer of [[historical fiction]] from that point forward. The novel traces the lives of Major [[Henry Rathbone]] and [[Clara Harris]], the young couple who accompanied [[Abraham Lincoln]] to [[Ford's Theatre]] on April 14, 1865. A story of star-crossed lovers intermingles with personal and political tragedies and spans the couple's first meeting in childhood to their eventual derangement.<ref>Thomas Mallon. ''Henry and Clara''. Picador: August 15, 1995.</ref> Mallon's writing career took a dramatic turn when [[John Updike]] praised ''Henry and Clara'' in ''[[The New Yorker]]'', calling Mallon "one of the most interesting American novelists at work."<ref>John Updike, "Excellent Humbug," ''New Yorker,'' 70 (5 September 1994): 102-105.</ref>
Historical fiction, Mallon has declared in interviews, is the genre in which he is most interested as a writer. "I think the main thing that has led me to write historical fiction is that it is a relief from the self," he explains.<ref>Michael Coffey, "Thomas Mallon: Picturing History and Seeing Stars," ''Publishers Weekly'' (January 20, 1997): 380–381.</ref> American political history has been perhaps his main subject and interest; in 1994, he [[ghostwriter|ghostwrote]] former Vice President [[Dan Quayle]]'s memoir, ''Standing Firm''.<ref>[[Joe Queenan (author)|Joe Queenan]], "Ghosts in the Machine," ''The New York Times ''(20 March 2005). Retrieved 2009-11-16.</ref>
After the publication of ''Henry and Clara'', Mallon went on to write seven more works of historical fiction, including his most recent novels, ''Watergate'' (2012), ''Finale'' (2015), and ''Landfall'' (2019). ''Watergate'', a finalist for the 2013 [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=Washington writer Thomas Mallon among finalists for PEN/Faulkner Award |language=en-US |work=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2013/03/06/washington-writer-thomas-mallon-among-finalists-for-penfaulkner-award/ |access-date=2023-05-04 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> is a retelling of the [[Watergate scandal]] from the perspective of seven characters, some familiar to the public memory, such as [[Richard Nixon]]'s secretary [[Rose Mary Woods]], and some brought to light from the sidelines of the scandal, such as [[Fred LaRue]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin|date=2012-02-15 |title=Nixon and Friends, Stalked With Literary License |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/books/watergate-a-novel-by-thomas-mallon.html |access-date=2023-02-22 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years'', one of ''[[The New York Times]]''{{'}} 100 Notable Books of 2015, takes readers to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986; the wealthiest enclaves of southern California; and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where President [[Ronald Reagan]] engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2015.html|title=100 Notable Books of 2015|date=2015-11-27|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-12-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Readers of ''Finale'' find themselves in the shoes of many characters both central and peripheral to the Reagan presidency – from [[Nancy Reagan]] to Richard Nixon to actress [[Bette Davis]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/books/review/finale-thomas-mallon-novel-about-ronald-reagan-review.html|title='Finale,' by Thomas Mallon|last=Draper|first=Robert|date=2015-09-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-12-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Published in 2019, ''Landfall'' takes place during the [[George W. Bush]] years against a backdrop of political catastrophe, including the [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)|Iraqi insurgency]] and [[Hurricane Katrina]]. At the center of the narrative is a love affair between two West Texans, Ross Weatherall and Allison O'Connor, whose destinies have been intertwined with Bush's for decades.
In June 2025, [[Knopf]] published Mallon's ''The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994,'' a selection of his journal entries from that time. Described as a gay coming of age chronicle set in New York City during the early days of the [[HIV/AIDS in New York City|AIDS epidemic]], this work also traces Mallon's career at Vassar College and ''[[GQ]]'', as well as highlights many of the famous people with whom he crossed paths during those eleven years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Garner |first=Dwight |date=2025-06-09 |title=How a Gay Neocon Writer Survived New York in the '80s and '90s |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/books/review/thomas-mallon-the-very-heart-of-it.html |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=The New York Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994 |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/744510/the-very-heart-of-it-by-thomas-mallon/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Penguin Random House |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Accolades== {{BLP unreferenced section|date=December 2023}} * [[Phi Beta Kappa]], 1972 * [[Rockefeller Fellowship]], 1986–87 * [[Ingram Merrill Award]] (for outstanding work as a writer), 1994 * Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction, 1998, for ''Dewey Defeats Truman'' * [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] (Nona Balakian Citation) for Excellence in Reviewing, 1998 * [[Guggenheim Fellowship]], 2000–2001 * [[Dictionary of Literary Biography]] Award for Distinguished Criticism, 2002 * Finalist for 2007 [[Lambda Literary Award]] for ''Fellow Travelers'' * [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]' Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award for prose style ($10,000 prize; conferred May 2011) * Elected to [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 2012 * Finalist, [[PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction]] (For ''Watergate'', 2013)
==Personal life== Openly gay, Mallon currently lives with his longtime partner, William Bodenschatz, in Washington, D.C., and is a professor emeritus of English at [[The George Washington University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mallon, Thomas: English Department: Columbian College of Arts & Sciences: The George Washington University | url=https://english.columbian.gwu.edu/thomas-mallon | access-date=2024-04-03 |website=The George Washington University |language=en-US}}</ref> He once described himself as a "supposed literary intellectual/homosexual/Republican."<ref name="NY Mag">{{failed verification|date=December 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Mallon |first1=Thomas |title=Battle Cry of the Elite |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/03/frank-rich-trump-didnt-hijack-gop.html |journal=New York Magazine |date=21 March 2016 |issue=March 21-April 7, 2016 |pages=27 |access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref> During the 2016 election, he was actively involved in Scholars and Writers Against Trump,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schaub |first=Michael |date=2016-11-08 |title=Authors in support of Donald Trump are conservative thinkers and academics; plus one radical Marxist |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-authors-for-trump-20161108-story.html |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> a group of disaffected conservatives.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scholars and Writers Against Trump |url=https://scholarsandwritersagainsttrump.wordpress.com/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Scholars and Writers Against Trump |language=en}}</ref> He left the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in November 2016.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Granberry |first1=Michael |title=Still recovering from Trump winning, Thomas Mallon crafts a 'superbly written' novel about Bush 43 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/books/2019/03/06/still-recovering-from-trump-winning-thomas-mallon-crafts-a-superbly-written-novel-about-bush-43/ |website=dallasnews.com |publisher=Dallas Morning News |access-date=5 September 2025 |date=March 6, 2019}}</ref>
== See also == * [[List of historical novelists]] * ''[[Fellow Travelers (opera)]]'' * ''[[Fellow Travelers (miniseries)]]''
==Bibliography== {{Incomplete list|date=January 2015}} {{bots|deny=Citation bot}}
===Books=== ====Nonfiction==== * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas --> |title=Edmund Blunden |location=Boston |publisher=Twayne |year=1983 <!--|isbn=0805768297-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=A Book of One's Own: People and Their Diaries |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |year=1984 }}<ref>{{cite journal |ref=none |last=Bliven |first=Naomi |date=January 21, 1985 |title=Quiddities (review of ''A Book of One's Own'') |journal=The New Yorker |volume=60 |issue=49 |pages=92–93 }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Stolen Words: Forays into the Origins and Ravages of Plagiarism |url=https://archive.org/details/stolenwordsforay00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |year=1989 <!--|isbn=0899193935-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none |title=Rockets and Rodeos and Other American Spectacles |publisher=Diane Publishing Co. |year=1993 }}<ref>{{cite journal |ref=none |last=Goodwin |first=Stephen |date=February 24, 1993 |title=Thomas Mallon's American Pie |journal=[[USA Today]] |page=20 }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none |title=In Fact: Essays on Writers and Writing |publisher=Pantheon |year=2001 }} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Mrs. Paine's Garage and the Murder of John F. Kennedy |url=https://archive.org/details/mrspainesgaragem00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2002 <!--|isbn= 0375421173-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Yours Ever: People and Their Letters |url=https://archive.org/details/yourseverpeoplet0000mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2009 <!--|isbn=9780679444268-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994 |year=2025 <!--|isbn=9780593801802-->}}
====Fiction==== * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas --> |title=Arts and Science: A Seventies Seduction |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |year=1988 <!--|isbn=0899194206-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Aurora 7 |url=https://archive.org/details/aurora700mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |year=1991 <!--|isbn=0899199380-->}}<ref>{{cite news |ref=none |last=Gingher |first=Marianne |date=February 17, 1991 |title=Through space and time |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none |title=Henry and Clara |url=https://archive.org/details/henryclara000mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Ticknor & Fields |year=1994 <!--|isbn=039559071X-->}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Sayers |first=Valerie|author-link=Valerie Sayers|title=Sunday Book Review of ''Henry and Clara'' by Thomas Mallon|newspaper=NY Times|date=August 21, 1994|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/21/books/a-night-at-the-theater-with-the-lincolns.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |ref=none |last=Updike |first=John |author-link=John Updike |date=September 5, 1994 |title=Excellent humbug |journal=The New Yorker |volume=70 |pages=102–105 }}</ref> * {{cite book |title=Dewey Defeats Truman |url=https://archive.org/details/deweydefeatstrum00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=1997 }}<ref>{{cite journal |ref=none |last=Wood |first=James |date=December 31, 1996 |title=Those little-town blues |journal=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |ref=none |last=Mitgang |first=Herbert |date=January 26, 1997 |title=Master of detail |journal=[[Chicago Tribune]] }}</ref> * {{cite book |title=Two Moons |url=https://archive.org/details/twomoonsnovel00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2000 }}<ref>{{cite news |ref=none |last=Weber |first=Katharine |date=April 9, 2000 |title=Starry-eyed |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] }}</ref> * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Bandbox |url=https://archive.org/details/bandboxmall00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2004 <!--|isbn=0375421165-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Fellow Travelers |url=https://archive.org/details/fellowtravelers00mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2007 <!--|isbn=0375423486-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Watergate: A Novel |url=https://archive.org/details/watergatenovel0000mall |url-access=registration |publisher=Pantheon |year=2012 <!--|isbn=0307378721-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Finale: A Novel |publisher=Pantheon |year=2015 <!--|isbn=0307907929-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Landfall: A Novel |publisher=Pantheon |year=2019 <!--|isbn=1101871059-->}} * {{cite book |ref=none <!--|author=Mallon, Thomas |author-mask=1--> |title=Up with the Sun |publisher=Knopf |year=2023 <!--|isbn=9781524748197-->}}
===Critical studies and reviews of Mallon's work=== * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Pritchard |first=William H. |date=January 14, 2001 |title=The company he keeps |journal=[[The New York Times Book Review]] |pages=13 }} Review of ''In fact : essays on writers and writing''. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Upchurch |first=Michael |date=January 20, 2002 |title=How history happens |journal=[[Chicago Tribune]] }} Review of ''Mrs. Paine's Garage and the murder of John F. Kennedy''. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Gibbons |first=Kaye |author-link=Kaye Gibbons|date=February 8, 2004 |title=The '20s roar again with rollicking energy |journal=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] }} Review of ''Bandbox''. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Smith |first=Wendy |date=April 29, 2007 |title=Opportunism knocks |journal=Los Angeles Times Book Review }} Review of ''Fellow Travelers''. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Birns |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Birns |date=2009 |title=Thomas Mallon |journal=American Writers |volume=Supplement |issue=XIX |pages=131–47 |url= <!--http://assets.cengage.com/pdf/toc_9780684315546.pdf-->}} Survey of Mallon's career up to 2008. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Schiff |first=Stacy |author-link=Stacy Schiff |date=November 29, 2009 |title=Please Mr. Postman |journal=The New York Times Book Review |pages=13 }} Review of ''Yours Ever''. * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Alabanese |first=Andrew Richard |date=November 30, 2009 |title=Man of letters |journal=[[Publishers Weekly]] |pages=22–24 }} * {{cite journal |ref=none |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |date=February 15, 2012 |title=Nixon and friends, stalked with literary license: 'Watergate,' a novel by Thomas Mallon |department=Books of the Times |journal=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/books/watergate-a-novel-by-thomas-mallon.html <!--|access-date=2015-02-02-->}} *Andersen, Kurt (February 11, 2019). [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/11/books/review/thomas-mallon-landfall.html "A Comic Novel About the George W. Bush No One Knows"]. ''The New York Times''. Review of ''Landfall''. *Swaim, Barton (February 15, 2019). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/landfall-review-how-it-really-never-happened-11550241692 "‘Landfall’ Review: How It Really Never Happened."] ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. Review of ''Landfall''.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category|Thomas Mallon}} * [http://www.thomasmallon.com/ Thomas Mallon's Website] * [http://mostlyfiction.com/history/mallon.htm Mostly Fiction Review of Bandbox] * [http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-01/thomas-mallon-watergate-novel Thomas Mallon: "Watergate: A Novel"] * {{C-SPAN|49137}} * [http://www.salon.com/2000/02/07/mallon_2/ "Two Moons" by Thomas Mallon]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallon, Thomas}} [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Brown University alumni]] [[Category:Harvard University alumni]] [[Category:Vassar College faculty]] [[Category:George Washington University faculty]] [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:21st-century American novelists]] [[Category:American historical novelists]] [[Category:American male novelists]] [[Category:Rockefeller Fellows]] [[Category:Writers from Glen Cove, New York]] [[Category:American gay writers]] [[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] [[Category:American LGBTQ novelists]] [[Category:The New Yorker people]] [[Category:PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners]] [[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]] [[Category:20th-century American male writers]] [[Category:21st-century American male writers]]