Thomas Adam Publishes Three Monographs: 'Evolution of American Philanthropy,' 'Football' and 'Global Eugenics'

Seeing the connections between societies and cultures rather than what separates them has been the prevailing theme in Thomas Adam's research and publications (Ph.D.'98), which by now include more than 40 monographs and edited volumes. The latest three in the public eye include:

• American Philanthropy in Its Global Context, published in spring 2025 with Bristol University Press
• The Global Spread of Football, published in summer 2025 with Anthem Press
• Eugenics in Global Perspective is scheduled for release in summer of 2026

Both books have already led to several invited book talks and podcasts. American Philanthropy in Its Global Context has been featured in a book talk at the Clinton School of Public Service in April 2025 and can be found here. The Global Spread of Football was featured in Tony Collins' podcast Rugby Reloaded in October 2025.

American Philanthropy in Its Global Context tells the story of how modern American philanthropy evolved over the last 300 years. This book innovates by locating American philanthropy within its global context. American philanthropy built upon traditions that stretched back millennia and included Christian, Jewish and Islamic ideas about practices and organizations of philanthropy. To give just one example, the institution of the foundation — most Americans are familiar with foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — that came to be a prominent form of American philanthropy was built upon both Islamic and Christian predecessors.

American Philanthropy in Its Global Context also illuminates the multifaceted story of global engagement of institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation in China, Indonesia and Nigeria. The Rockefeller Foundation undoubtedly did a lot of good work by funding medical education in China and Nigeria and by funding the fight against the hookworm in the global south, but it also funded eugenic research in the United Kingdom and in (Nazi) Germany during the 1930s.

Adam's book The Global Spread of Football is the very first book about the evolution of football/soccer that explores how a local game played at a few private high schools in England such as Rugby and Eaton became a game played across all of Europe and North and South America. This book traces the movement of football enthusiasts, football rules and sports gear from England to Argentina, to Germany and to the United States. In contrast to traditional sports studies, this book explores the evolution of football within the context of 19th-century school reform. The game emerged as a modern sport at institutions of higher education and was initially played by high school and college students before it turned into the game for the masses as we know it. Football was part and parcel of educators' efforts to develop new teaching methods and engage students in the learning process. And football was also part of student rebellion against authoritarian teachers and schools.

The book challenges existing accounts about the beginnings of football at American colleges such as Harvard. Football was not born at America's elite colleges, as most authors have argued, but rather at private preparatory schools such as Dixwell's School in Boston. It was students from Dixwell's School who in 1862 founded with the Oneida Club, America's very first football club. The early games played by these high school students resembled a game that we today would identify as soccer rather than football. It took several decades before American high school and college students embraced the game we know today as American football.

Eugenics in Global Perspective is scheduled for release in summer of 2026. This book provides a novel account of eugenics as a global phenomenon that existed in democratic and dictatorial states. The idea of eugenics was born in England. From here it moved to the United States where it turned from an idea into a practice and social policy. Laws that restricted marriage on eugenic grounds and which permitted the compulsory sterilization of "feebleminded individuals" were introduced in Minnesota (1901) and Indiana (1907) respectively. And euthanasia laws were discussed in Ohio and Iowa in 1905.

American sterilization laws caught the attention of social reformers and of racists across Europe and Asia. They inspired sterilization laws in dozens of countries including Denmark, (Nazi) Germany, Sweden and Japan. And while compulsory sterilization policies fell by the wayside, euthanasia practices and policies, in the disguise of death with dignity legislation, gained momentum at the end of the 20th century. The book reminds readers who believed that eugenics is a phenomenon of the past that it is still very much alive, and modern debates about death with dignity, abortion and genetic techniques such as gene editing provide new fuel to eugenic debates.

Adam is passionate about bridging research and teaching. He regularly offers his course The Evolution of Philanthropy and Nonprofits (PLSC 41803) and his course Eugenics in Global Perspective (PLSC 492H3) and enjoys working with honors students.

Adam joined the Department of Political Science in 2020. He is an expert in the study of intercultural transfers and transnationalism. He serves as the editor of the book series in Intercultural Transfer Studies and as the editor of the Yearbook of Transnational History.