Thomas Beer (1889–1940) was an American biographer, novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Beer pursued his education at Yale University, graduating in 1911, before studying law at Columbia University from 1911 to 1913. He also served in the military during World War I, experiences that preceded his prolific literary career in the 1920s and 1930s.
Beer achieved significant recognition for his biographical and historical works. He is best known for his biographies of author Stephen Crane (1923) and politician Mark Hanna (1929). His most celebrated cultural study, The Mauve Decade (1926), offered a satirical and critical examination of American life and manners during the late 19th century. In addition to his historical and biographical work, Beer published three novels: The Fair Rewards (1922), Sandoval: A Romance of Bad Manners (1924), and The Road to Heaven: A Romance of Morals (1928).
Beyond his longer works, Beer was a highly successful short story writer, publishing more than 130 stories in The Saturday Evening Post. Many of these stories, which drew on his youthful summers spent at his grandfather's farm in Bucyrus, Ohio, were compiled in collections such as Mrs. Egg and Other Barbarians (1933) and the posthumous Mrs. Egg and Other Americans (1947). Beer died of a heart attack in New York City in 1940.
