I am a journalist and historian and the author of ten books. The most recent (May 2023) is Huntland: The Historic Virginia Hunt Country House, the Property and Its Owners (Huntland Press/University of Virginia Press).

My previous book, Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler (Stackpole Books, 2017), is the first biography of the former Green Beret sergeant who wrote and sang "The Ballad of the Green Berets," the No. 1 hit song of 1966.

My other books include What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014), the first biography of the author of "The Star Spangled Banner" in more than seventy-five years; Lafayette: Idealist General (2011), a concise biography of the Marquis de Lafayette; Desperate Engagement (2007), a history of the Civil War Battle of Monocacy; Flag: An American Biography (2005), a history of the Stars and Stripes from the beginnings to the 21st century; and Saving Monticello (2001), a history of Thomas Jefferson's house that concentrates on what happened to Monticello after Jefferson died. I also edited The Webster's New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Macmillan, 1999).

I am a former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, and have been a full-time free-lance writer since 1986. I have written for many publications, including the Washington Post, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Smithsonian, Military History, Civil War Times, and Preservation Magazines, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.

I am Senior Writer, Arts Editor and columnist for The VVA Veteran, the magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America.

I have been a guest on many television and radio news programs, including All Things Considered, Morning Edition, On the Media, Talk of the Nation, Hear and Now, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, MSNBC, History Detectives, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, CBC (Canada), The BBC NewsHour, and Irish Radio.

I have given talks at many colleges and universities, including the University of Maryland, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Miami, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Mary Washington University, Washington College, Sweet Briar College, Longwood University, Appalachian State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Miami, and the College of Southern Maryland.

I taught U.S. history at Laurel Ridge Community College in Warrenton, Virginia, from 2007-2015.

After graduating from George Washington University in 1967, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and served for two years, including a year in the Vietnam War. After my military service, I earned an MA in history from GWU in 1971.