Steven Beschloss and Michael Beschloss are both well-known historians who have written books, articles, and documentaries on various topics related to the United States presidency and politics. But are they related to each other? Many people have wondered about this question, especially since they share the same uncommon surname. In this article, we will explore the truth behind the two historians and their possible connection.
The Origin of the Beschloss Name
According to Ancestry.com, the name Beschloss is of German origin and means “castle” or “fortress”. It is a variant of the more common name Schloss, which also means “castle”. The name Beschloss is very rare in the United States, with only 25 people having this surname in the 1920 census. Therefore, it is possible that Steven and Michael are distant relatives who share a common ancestor from Germany.
The Background of Steven Beschloss
Steven Beschloss was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955. He grew up in Flossmoor, Illinois, and attended Eaglebrook School, Phillips Academy, Williams College, and Harvard Business School. He majored in political science at Williams College, where he worked under James MacGregor Burns, a renowned presidential historian. He then earned an MBA at Harvard Business School, with the intention of writing history while working as a foundation executive.
Steven Beschloss has been a writer, journalist, editor, and filmmaker for over three decades. He has written on international and urban affairs, politics, economics, art, and culture for various publications, such as The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Republic, Smithsonian, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Parade Magazine, National Geographic, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and others. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, selected Journalist of the Year in Virginia, and honored with a magazine writing award by the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
He is the author of the narrative book The Gunman and His Mother: Lee Harvey Oswald, Marguerite Oswald and The Making of an Assassin, a bestselling Amazon Kindle Single. He is also the co-author of Adrift: Charting Our Course Back to a Great Nation (Prometheus Books), a featured guest on MSNBC, Fox Business and NPR, and he writes and publishes America, America, a thrice-weekly newsletter focused on politics and society, democracy and justice.
In addition to his writing career, Steven Beschloss has also made documentary and fiction films for European television. He co-wrote and co-produced Paris: A noir thriller (2003), which premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. He has also worked with leading brands and their partners to help shape their media profiles and tell their stories in print, online, and video.
Steven Beschloss is currently a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. He has a joint appointment from the College of Global Futures, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He also directs the Narrative Storytelling Initiative at ASU. He has held appointments in history at the Smithsonian Institution, as a Senior Associate Member at St. Antony’s College (University of Oxford), a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Russian Research Center, a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg Foundation, and a Montgomery Fellow and Dorsett Fellow at Dartmouth College.
