Thomas Cahill was an American scholar and writer. His most famous work is The Hinges of History series, a planned seven-volume compilation of his memoirs detailing early periods of Western civilization. Five publishing houses first rejected his manuscript for "How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe." Nevertheless, Nan A. Talese at Doubleday later approved it in 1991. Following its 1995 release, the book sold almost two million copies and spent nearly two years on The New York Times Best Seller list. Before he passed away, Cahill planned for this work to be the first in a seven-part series titled "Hinges of History," which he eventually finished with six volumes.