About Ben Bradlee Jr.

Bradlee's new book on the election of Donald Trump, was published by Little, Brown on October 2, 2018.

"THE FORGOTTEN: How the Abandoned People of One Pennsylvania County Elected Donald Trump and Changed America", will be an in-depth, closely reported examination of Trump voters in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, a swing county in the Northeast part of the state, which played a pivotal role in Trump's election. THE FORGOTTEN - a reference to the phrase Trump often used to describe his constituency, "the forgotten people" - will be a sociological history, exploring why and how voters stunned the world by electing who they did - and how America is changing as a result.

Bradlee's previous book: The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, was published by Little, Brown in December of 2013. The book was received with critical acclaim, made the New York Times best-seller list and has been optioned for a movie. It was also awarded the 2013 PEN New England prize for literary excellence in biography and sports writing.

Bradlee spent 25 years, from 1979 to 2004, with The Boston Globe - 10 years as a reporter and 15 as an editor.

As deputy managing editor, he oversaw the Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church from July 2001 to August 2002, and also supervised the production of a book on the subject, "Betrayal," which Little, Brown published in June, 2002. "Spotlight," a major feature film on the Globe's investigation, was released in the fall of 2015 and won two Academy Awards, for best original screenplay and best picture. Bradlee was portrayed in the film by actor John Slattery.

Bradlee's first editing assignment was as Political Editor, supervising the paper's State House and City Hall bureaus in 1989 and 1990. He then served as Assistant Managing Editor for local news from January of 1991, to November of 1993, when he was named Assistant Managing Editor for Projects and Investigations. He was later promoted to Deputy Managing Editor, while retaining the same position. In that capacity, Bradlee oversaw the Spotlight Team (the Globe's investigative unit) and several other reporters who produced long-term projects or series. He also worked on an ad-hoc basis with reporters on the metropolitan, business, national and foreign staffs in producing special projects, and occasionally, wrote major pieces himself.

As a reporter, he served on the Spotlight Team, at the State House bureau, and as the paper's roving national correspondent from 1982-1986. He covered the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis and also reported overseas for The Globe from Afghanistan, South Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Vietnam.

Before The Kid, Bradlee wrote three other books. His first was The Ambush Murders, the case of a black activist accused -- and ultimately acquitted after three trials -- of killing two white policemen in Riverside, Calif. It was a story about small-town justice and how justice functions in emotionally-charged circumstances when police investigate the deaths of two of their own. The book was published in 1979 by Dodd, Mead, and later made into a television movie for CBS.

Bradlee was co-author of Prophet of Blood -- the story of polygamous cult leader and self-styled prophet-of-God Ervil LeBaron, whom authorities considered responsible for up to a dozen murders in the Intermountain West and Mexico during the 70's. The book -- which explored the interplay between sex, violence and religion in an offshoot of the Mormon Church -- was published by G.P. Putnam in 1981.

Bradlee's third book was "Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North."" Published by Donald I. Fine Inc. in 1988, the book chronicled North and the Iran-Contra affair, and was the basis for a four-hour television mini-series which aired on CBS in May of 1989.

In 2016, Bradlee was appointed to the Boston Public Library's Board of Trustees by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, filling the board's unofficial writer's seat that has been held by Doris Kearns Goodwin, David McCullough, Dennis Lehane and other notable authors.

A graduate of Colby College, Bradlee served in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan from 1970-1972. On his return to the United States in 1972, he went to work as a reporter for the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise, remaining there until mid 1975.

Bradlee and his wife live outside Boston. He has three children.