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Ben Cleary

Biography

Ben Cleary

Ben Cleary is a writer and teacher who lives in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

Ben Cleary

Books by Ben Cleary

by Ben Cleary - History, Nonfiction

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was the embodiment of Southern contradictions. He was a slave owner who fought and died, at least in part, to perpetuate slavery, yet he founded an African-American Sunday School and personally taught classes for almost a decade. In a deeply religious age, Jackson was revered for a piety that was far beyond the norm. How did one man meld his religion with the institution of slavery? How did he reconcile it with the business of killing, at which he so excelled? In SEARCHING FOR STONEWALL JACKSON, historian Ben Cleary examines not only Jackson's life, but his own, contemplating what it means to be a white Southerner in the 21st century.