Stan interviews author Jason Friedman about his new book, Liberty Street. Jason and his husband bought a townhouse on Liberty Street in his hometown of Savannah. But that was just the beginning of a remarkable journey: “It’s a house that came with a story: the rise and fall of a Southern Jewish family and a ghost story whose long-dead characters st…

Stan’s guest this week is DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, who talks about his new book, James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey From Slave Trader to Abolitionist, published by the University of Georgia Press. Michael argues that Oglethorpe has never gotten credit for his pathbreaking efforts to keep slavery out of the Georgia c…

Stan’s guest this week is Jerry Grillo, author of Big Cat: The Life of Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Mize. Mize was born in Demorest, Georgia, and played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball and won 5 World Series. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/4-18-24.mp3By Stan Deaton

Why do the days of the week have their own particular feeling, and how did that happen? This week Stan’s guest is historian and author David Henkin from the University of California, Berkeley, discussing his book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms that Made Us Who We Are. We take the seven-day week for granted, rarely asking what anchors…

How do we hold institutions accountable for the sins of the past? In this podcast, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight of Yale University talks with Stan about his latest book, Yale and Slavery: A History, and how he and a team of researchers uncovered Yale’s historical involvement with slavery, the slave trade, abolition, and Jim Crow—an…

This week Stan discusses a new book on an old legend—Bigfoot—and the hope that springs eternal with the return of the Beloved Braves and Major League Baseball. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3-28-24.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is Clayton Trutor, talking about his recent book Loserville, the winner of the Georgia Historical Society’s 2023 Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history published in 2022. Clayton discusses how Atlanta’s quest for professional sports franchises—the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and Flames—re-shaped Atlanta and Georgia in th…

This week Stan’s guest is historian and author Elizabeth Varon from the University of Virginia discussing her latest book, Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied The South. She talks about the life and career of this most controversial Georgian, from whether “Longstreet was late” at Gettysburg, and how his post-war decision to support Radic…

Stan’s guest this week is best-selling author Jeryn Turner, who discusses her writing life, her upbringing, books, and the inspiration behind her fulfilling life. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12-14-23.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan brings out his over-used crying towel and reviews the inglorious end to the Dogs’ season, reviews the College Football Playoff mess, and looks ahead to next season. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12-7-23.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is renowned (and recovering) sociologist John Shelton Reed, who discusses his career, what’s still southern about the South, the Campaign for Real Barbecue, and writing country music lyrics. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11-29-23.mp3By Stan Deaton

In this episode Stan brings out the crying towel and reviews the quick end to a glorious Braves season, offers his take on how to “fix” the playoffs, and looks ahead to next season. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/10-20-23.mp3By Stan Deaton

This week Stan’s guest is Kevin Levin, author of the Civil War Memory Substack blog and one of the country’s foremost experts on the history and memory of the Civil War era, including the ongoing controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and debates concerning the teaching of slavery and race in the classroom. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahist…

Stan’s guest this week is Dr. Jim Cobb of the University of Georgia, talking about his new biography of historian C. Vann Woodward, one of the most distinguished and important historians of the 20th century. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/9-28-23.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is political scientist Sidney Milkis of the University of Virginia, who discusses his new book, What Happened to the Vital Center? Presidentialism, Populist Revolt, and the Fracturing of America. This is a wide-ranging discussion about American political history and the US Constitution. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.c…

In this podcast Stan discusses the newly available Ed Jackson Collection at GHS, Freddie Mercury’s handwritten lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Ed Ames’ tomahawk throw, and college students giving up their cellphones to take a vow of silence. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/6-28-23.mp3…

Do unexpected calls on your smart phone send you into panic mode? Should people text before calling? Do you hate text messages too? Is AI the end of the world as we know it? Stan discusses these pressing issues and more, including this year’s Pulitzer Prize winners, the travails of our beloved Braves, and the goings-on in the Fraternal Order of Tal…

In this episode, Stan looks at what happened to Hitler and his top henchmen—Goebbels, Himmler, Goring, Bormann, and others. How do we know so much about the Nazis despite the lack of physical remains, monuments and statues? https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2-17-23.mp3…

In this episode Stan interviews Dr. Johann Neem, historian and author, whose research focuses on the history of American democracy. They discuss history in the public realm, why history has become so controversial in recent years, and where it’s all headed. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/11-18-22.mp3…

This week Stan looks back at one of the most popular TV shows ever, a Mad magazine cartoonist who left his mark on the holidays, a critical day in the American Civil War, a milestone birthday of a legendary football coach, one of the most momentous days in Olympic history, Travis McGee novels, and much more.…

Dayton Duncan has worked with Ken Burns for more than 30 years writing and producing some of the most important and critically acclaimed documentaries in history. In this podcast he talks about his career with Burns and Florentine Films, living part-time in Georgia, and what comes next.By Stan Deaton

Once again this year, in celebration of the spooky season Stan reads a favorite ghost story, “Rats” by the master of the genre, M.R. James, first published in 1929. Also, this week in history and a dark day in Mayberry. Draw near the fire, dim the lights, and enjoy…..By Stan Deaton

This week Stan remembers the birth and death of two iconic musicians from the 20th century, and the recent deaths of five historians whose work over the past 60 years helped redefine several eras of American history.By Stan Deaton

This week Stan revisits the death of the King, the birth of the phonograph, Buck Owens, the Aztec empire, Alfred Hitchcock, Napoleon, Margaret Mitchell, and one of the darkest episodes in Georgia history. He also remembers Rosalyn Carter’s birthday, a hero from Iwo Jima, and shares new additions to the Off the Deaton Path bookshelf.…

For Independence Day, Stan talks about This Week in History (including Elvis, the CDC, the Beatles, Sherlock Holmes, Thomas Jefferson & John Adams), notes the birthday of a celebrated historian, remembers a segregationist southern governor from the Civil Rights Movement, highlights new additions to the Off the Deaton Path bookshelf, and revisits on…

By Stan Deaton

Stan talks about This Week in History (the Stamp Act, James Jackson, Spike Lee, the first Black graduate of West Point, the Masters, Tomochichi, & Houdini), says goodbye to a pathbreaking historian and actor, spotlights new additions to the Off the Deaton Path bookshelf, and welcomes the opening of Major League Baseball.…

Stan looks at the history of this quadrennial event that goes back 232 years, from the Bible Washington used to the only inauguration held on an airplane, the only president sworn in by a woman, two inaugurals almost cancelled by cold weather, and why there have been 9 “non-scheduled extraordinary” inaugurations. President John F. Kennedy takes the…

This week’s guest is Keith Mason, a Gwinnett County native who served as Governor Zell Miller’s Chief of Staff and in President Bill Clinton’s administration. He was instrumental in the passage of the Georgia Lottery and the Hope Scholarship. Keith discusses political figures past and future, including Zell Miller, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, James…

For Halloween, Stan tells four of his favorite stories of people who simply vanished into thin air: The story of one of our Founding Fathers who vanished while mailing a letter; the most famous maritime missing persons mystery ever; the story of a man who literally was there one minute and gone the next; and finally perhaps the most notorious missi…

This week Stan interviews Pulitzer Prize-winner Rick Atkinson about the first volume of his new Revolution trilogy, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Volume 1: Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777. Rick discusses researching at Windsor Castle, George III’s handwriting, walking the battlefields, Washington’s leadership, and plays “Overated/U…

In our first podcast of the season, Stan talks to Sarah Milov of the University of Virginia about her recent book The Cigarette: A Political History, and about the fascinating history of smoking and anti-smoking in America–including a snippet of the creepy Johnny Smoke PSA from the late ’60s. We also check out “This Week in History,” from Jimmy Car…

Stan talks to Jim Galloway, a 40-year veteran of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the lead writer and founder of the AJC’s Political Insider blog, the best-read and most influential political blog in the state. Jim talks about Georgia’s changing demographics and their effect on Georgia politics, Donald Trump in historical context, the future of…

“It’s my job to see the noble aspect of everything.” Stan interviews artist Ross Rossin, winner of the 2019 GHS Berrien Award for Lifetime Achievement in GA History.By Stan Deaton

In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, Stan reads an oldfavorite, W.W. Jacob’s “The Monkey’s Paw.” Enjoy!By Stan Deaton

This week’s special guest is 95-year-old Fred Mingledorff,one of the last living combat veterans of World War II. Mr. Mingledorff wasthere 75 years ago, on June 21, 1944, for the invasion of Guam during World WarII, a turning point in the war against the Japanese. He talks with Stan aboutwhat he did during the war, how the war affected him, and loo…

GHS President and CEO Todd Groce joins Stan for a discussion about the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion and liberation of Fortress Europe—what happened in 1944, its importance in World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany, and what it all means 75 years later.By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is prize-winning author and journalist Steve Oney, talking about his latest book, A Man’s World: A Gallery of Fighters, Creators, Actors, and Desperadoes (UGA Press) and his interviews with Greg Allman, Harrison Ford, Nick Nolte, Herschel Walker, and many others.By Stan Deaton

This week’s podcast guest is Paul Pressly, who talks about Ossabaw Island, his new book on environmental history–Coastal Nature, Coastal Culture—just out from UGA Press, and the historyand future of Georgia’s great barrier island treasures.By Stan Deaton

A special Christmas podcast, with Stan reading fromone of his favorite books, as Mr. Pickwick and his fellow Pickwickians visitDingley Dell Manor Farm for a good old fashioned English Christmas. Enjoy andMerry Christmas!By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is Cuffy Sullivan, the president of the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia. She talks about the League’s history, its mission, and what it does and doesn’t do.By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week on the podcast is David Blight of Yale University, author of the pathbreaking new biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, published by Simon & Schuster. David talks about the 12 years he worked on the book, the private Savannah collection of Douglass papers that opened up new insights into Douglass’s extraordinary …

Once again this year, in celebration of the spooky season Stan reads a favorite ghost story, “Call First” by Ramsay Campbell, first published in 1975. Draw near the fire, dim the lights, and enjoy….. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-31-18.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan’s guest this week is Jim Jordan, talking about his new book, The Slave-Trader’s Letter-Book, published in 2018 by UGA Press. Jim tells the fascinating story of Savannah businessman Charles Lamar, who in 1858 illegally brought one of the last shipments of enslaved Africans to the United States, and whose papers were confiscated by the U.S. gove…

Part 2 of Stan’s interview with historian John Ferling on Jefferson, Paine, and Monroe, as well a lightning round of “Rate that Founding Father.” https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-15-18-1.mp3By Stan Deaton

Stan talks to author John Ferling about his new book, Apostles of Revolution: Jefferson, Paine, Monroe and the Struggle Against the Old Order in America and Europe. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-5-18.mp3By Stan Deaton

This week is Part 2 of Stan’s interview with real-life Homicide detective Sgt. Hiram “Pete” Rivera with the Savannah Police Department. They talk about what real homicide detectives do out on the street, in the Box, what Hollywood gets right and wrong about its portrayals of homicide detectives, and the hardest part of the job. Enjoy. https://www.d…

This week Stan talks to a real-life Homicide detective, Sgt. Hiram “Pete” Rivera with the Savannah Police Department, about what real homicide detectives do out on the street, in the box, and what Hollywood gets right and wrong about the job. This is part one of a two-part episode. Enjoy. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads…

Stan previews the upcoming National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama and relives the glory glory that was the 1980 championship team. Go Dogs. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-5-18.mp3By Stan Deaton

This week Stan tells the story of the tragedy of the largest man-made explosion in the pre-atomic age that happened 100 years ago this week, shares random thoughts about the college football playoffs, and remembers Cornelia Walker Bailey. https://www.deatonpath.georgiahistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/12-7-17.mp3…