Thomas R. Pegram is professor of history at Loyola University Maryland. Born in Hammond, Indiana, he grew up in the Midwest and California, then studied at Santa Clara University and Brandeis University, where he received a Ph.D. in American history. He has also taught at the Ohio State University. He is also the author of Battling Demon Rum: The Struggle for a Dry America, 1800-1933, and Partisans and Progressives: Private Interest and Public Policy in Illinois, 1870-1922. He lives with his family in Baltimore County, Maryland.