Biography

arc Leepson is a journalist, historian and the author of six books, most recently Desperate Engagement, the story of the Civil War Battle of Monocacy and Confederate General Jubal Early’s subsequent march on Washington (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2007), Flag: An American Biography (Thomas Dunne Books, 2005), the history of the Stars and Stripes from the beginnings to today and Saving Monticello: The Levy Family’s Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 2001; University of Virginia Press, paper, 2003). He edited The Webster’s New World Dictionary of the Vietnam War (Macmillan, 1998), and wrote two books on health topics in the 1980s.

A former staff w riter for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., he has been a free-lance writer since 1986. He has written for many newspapers and magazines, including Preservation, Smithsonian, Military History, Vietnam magazine, the Washington Post, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Detroit News, Dallas Morning News, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, The Arizona Republic, St. Petersburg Times, and USA Today. He also has written entries for the Encyclopedia Americana, the Encyclopedia Americana Yearbook, and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Since March of 1986, he has been arts editor and columnist for The VVA Veteran, the newspaper published by Vietnam Veterans of America. He teaches U.S. history at Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, Virginia.

He has been interviewed many times on radio and television, including on The Today Show, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, To The Point, Morning Edition, The Diane Rehm Show, Irish Radio, and CBC (Canada). He has presented papers and chaired panels at academic conferences at the University of Notre Dame, Tulane University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Texas Tech University, the College of William and Mary, and Salisbury State University, and has given presentations on Vietnam War films to students at the University of Miami, American University, Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, Appalachian State University, and the Foxcroft School.

He graduated from George Washington University in 1967. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1967-69, including a year in the Vietnam War, he received his honorable discharge and went on to earn a Masters Degree in history from George Washington University in 1971. He has taught U.S. History as an adjunct professor at Lord Fairfax Community College in Warrenton, Virginia. He lives with his wife Janna and their children, Devin and Cara, in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Contact Marc Leepson at Marc527psc@aol.com
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