The Monitor Boys: The Crew of the Union's First Ironclad (VA)
John V. Quarstein is an award-winning historian, preservationist and author. He presently serves as historian for the city of Hampton. He previously worked as the director of the Virginia War Museum and as consultant to The Mariners' Museum's Monitor Center.Quarstein is the author of ten books, includingFort Monroe: The Key to the SouthandA History of Ironclads: The Power of Iron Over Wood. He also has produced, narrated and written several PBS documentaries, includingJamestown: Foundations of Freedom and Hampton: From the Sea to the Stars.John Quarstein is the recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 1993 President's Award for Historic Preservation; the Civil War Society's Preservation Award in 1996; the United Daughters of the Confederacy's Jefferson Davis Gold Medal in 1999; and a 2007 Silver Telly for his Civil War in Hampton Roads film series.Besides his lifelong interest in Tidewater Virginia's Civil War experience, Quarstein is also an avid duck hunter and decoy collector. He lives on Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia, and on his family's Eastern Shore farm near Chestertown, Maryland.