Clary, David A. 1946- (David Allen Clary)

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Clary, David A. 1946- (David Allen Clary)

PERSONAL:

Born September 5, 1946, in Lafayette, IN; married, 1966; wife's name Beatriz; children: one. Education: Indiana University, A.B., 1968; University of Texas, M.A., 1970.

ADDRESSES:

Home—NM.

CAREER:

Historian and writer. University of Texas, National Park Service, Fort Davis National Historical Site, historian, 1968-70, stationed in Washington, DC, historian, 1970-74, and Midwest Region, Omaha, NE, regional historian, 1974-76; U.S. Forest Service, Washington, DC, chief historian, 1976—. David A. Clary and Associates, Bloomington, IN, principal, 1979—. Also University of Texas, National Defense Education Act (NDEA) Title IV fellow, 1968-70; Office of Archaeology and Historical Preservation, coordinator of environmental and protection activities, 1972-74; and Architect Preservation Consults, partner.

MEMBER:

Organization of American Historians, Western Historical Association, Association for Preservation Technology, Forest Historical Society, Society for Historical Archeology.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Special Achievement Awards, National Park Service, 1971, 1973, and 1976.

WRITINGS:

"The Place Where Hell Bubbled Up": A History of the National Park, U.S. Government Printing Office (Washington, DC), 1972.

(With William J. Miller and Ronald B. Hartzer) River Raisin Battlefield and Massacre Site, Monroe County, Michigan: A Feasibility Study of Alternatives for Acquisition, Development, Management, and Interpretation, Architectural Preservation Consultants (Bloomington, IN), 1981.

These Relics of Barbarism: A History of Furniture in Barracks and Guardhouses of the United States Army, 1800-1880, U.S. Department of the Interior (Harpers Ferry, WV), 1981.

(With Ronald B. Hartzer) Half a Century in Forest Conservation: A Biography and Oral History of Edward P. Cliff, U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC), 1981.

Timber and the Forest Service, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1986.

(With Joseph W.A. Whitehorne) The Inspectors General of the United States Army, 1777-1903, Office of the Inspector General and Center of Military History (Washington, DC), 1987.

Fortress America: The Corps of Engineers, Hampton Roads, and United States Coastal Defense, University Press of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), 1990.

Before and After Roswell: The Flying Saucer in America, 1947-1999, Xlibris (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2003.

Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Historian David A. Clary specializes in the history of the United States and has written on such diverse topics as the U.S. Corps of Engineers and flying saucers in America. In his book Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, Clary provides a biography of the man famous in space technology circles for developing the liquidfueled rocket. Clary "attempts to clean Goddard's biography of the varnish applied in earlier biographies," noted a Publishers Weekly contributor. Gilbert Taylor, writing in Booklist, commented that "this well-researched portrait cements Goddard's status as a hero in the history of space technology."

Clary turns his attention to Revolutionary War America in his book Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution. The author examines the father-son-like relationship between the older George Washington, commander of the American troops in the Revolutionary War, and the Marquis de Lafayette, a French royal who volunteered to help America in its revolutionary cause. The author recounts Lafayette's rapid rise thorough the ranks of the American army and how Washington, though extremely fond of Lafayette, showed no nepotism as he sent him into many dangerous situations. The author also delves into Lafayette's later life and his years of imprisonment after he led efforts to change France into a constitutional monarchy. "This well-researched work is generally quite readable," wrote Lawrence R. Maxted in the Library Journal. Gilbert Taylor, writing in Booklist, commented that the author "acquits himself well in narrating the military action of the major battles in which Lafayette commanded."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, p. 1854; December 1, 2004, "Rocketing into Space," includes review of Rocket Man, p. 633; February 1, 2007, Gilbert Taylor, review of Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution, p. 18.

Decatur Daily (Decatur, IL), March 11, 2007, John Davis, review of Adopted Son.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2006, review of Adopted Son, p. 1108.

Library Journal, January 1, 2007, Lawrence R. Maxted, review of Adopted Son, p. 122.

Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003, review of Rocket Man, p. 59; November 20, 2006, review of Adopted Son, p. 49.