Thomas C. Wright was born to Lucille and John S. Wright on November 6, 1941. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his family in 1956. He did his undergraduate work at Pomona College, with his junior year spent in Peru at the University of San Marcos. He went to the University of California Berkeley and earned his MA and PhD in history. He began teaching at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1972. He studied and taught on Latin American history, authoring several books and articles. He retired in 2011.