About Ben Carlos Cleary

Ben Cleary is the author of Searching for Stonewall Jackson: A Quest for Legacy in a Divided America, published by Hachette Book Group in July 2019.  The book grew out of a series of articles he wrote for the New York Times Disunion series, which dealt with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

Before that he wrote extensively for a variety of media.  His radio journalism includes stories and commentaries for the National Public Radio shows All Things Considered and Morning Edition and for Pacifica News. From 1988 to 1990 he produced Virginia Writers, a show heard statewide on public radio stations.  He was the scriptwriter and co-producer for a 1997 historical documentary, The Forgotten Fourteen, which tells the story of the African American Medal of Honor winners from the Civil War Battle of New Market Heights outside Richmond.  The video was awarded a Bronze Telly and was endorsed by the National Association of Social Studies Teachers. From 1979 to 2003 he worked as a freelance writer and editor, contributing countless columns and feature stories to Virginia publications, notably Commonwealth, 64, Style Weekly, The Richmond Afro-American, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the Virginia Episcopalian. 

In addition to his writing career, he worked for years as a teacher on both the secondary and college level.  He was writer-in-residence for schools across Virginia, an adjunct professor for the School of Journalism at the University of Richmond, and taught multiple courses for J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Piedmont Virginia Community College, and Virginia Commonwealth University.  For twelve years he taught English for the Virginia Department of Correctional Education, working mostly at the maximum-security Beaumont Juvenile Justice Center in Powhatan. 

As a volunteer, he taught a creative writing class at the now-defunct Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond for eight years. Cleary has a Masters in English from the University of Virginia, where he studied with Peter Taylor, John Casey, and Gregory Orr.   Prior to U. Va., he studied English at Virginia Commonwealth University.   

His hobbies include walking, reading, and Tai Chi. His home, in Mechanicsville, Virginia, is defended by three fierce cats. His late wife, Catherine, was the founder and CEO of WBDB-FM, a low-power FM station in Richmond. Their son, Alexander, is an audio engineer who works mostly in the Richmond area.