Thomas is a contributor to
The New Yorker and a former editor and writer at
Grantland. Her work has appeared in
The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal,
Vogue, and
The Paris Review. Thomas has published two books: 2017's
Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams, a biography of
First Lady Louisa Adams, and 2011's
Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family—a Test of Will and Faith in World War I, about the moral conflicts her family endured during World War I and focusing on her pacifist great-grandfather,
Norman Thomas. She is a former fellow at
New America. Though much of Thomas's writing is about sports, it is influenced by her studies of poetry; she cites
Wallace Stevens as a major influence. == Personal life ==