PODCAST

Off the Deaton Path

Off the Deaton Path is a podcast for anyone interested in lively conversation about American history and culture. Host Stan Deaton of the Georgia Historical Society explores the rich field of history through interviews with award-winning authors of some of the best contemporary works in history, biography, and non-fiction, as well as wide-ranging conversations about sports and popular culture, from movies to television, bourbon to beer, and Bigfoot to baseball.

society & culture history

All Episodes

S9E6 Podcast: Tom Johnson: From LBJ to CNN

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/10/09

Stan’s guest this week is Georgia native and journalist Tom Johnson, whose remarkable career took him from Macon, where he worked for legendary newspaperman Peyton Anderson, to UGA’s Grady College of Journalism, to White House Fellow during President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, to publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and finally as president of CNN during ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S9E5 Podcast: Taking Down the Klan

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/09/25

Stan’s guest this week is journalist and author Guy Gugliotta, discussing his new book, Grant’s Enforcer: Taking Down the Klan, published on April 15 of this year by the University of Georgia Press. It’s the story of how Amos T. Akerman, a Georgian, was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870 to become the ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S9E4 Podcast: What Dan Read: Dan Pelzer’s Reading...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/09/11

Dan Pelzer died in July at age 92 and left behind a detailed list of every book he read from 1962 to 2023, totaling 3,599 books across 62 years—all of them checked out of his local library. His list went viral after his children wanted to print it and hand it out at his funeral, ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S9E3 Podcast: Tracking Hernando De Soto Through Georgia

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/08/07

Did Hernando De Soto travel near what is now DeSoto Falls in North Georgia? Or Desoto, Georgia, in Sumter County? Why don’t we know where he went and why is the evidence so hard to find? Stan’s guest this week is Dennis Blanton, professor of anthropology at James Madison University, author of Conquistador’s Wake: Tracking ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S9E2 Podcast: The 10th Inning with Mark Bradley

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/07/17

Stan’s guest this week is long-time Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist Mark Bradley, who retired from the AJC last December after 46 years as a sports journalist. Mark shares some of his favorite moments in Georgia sports history across nearly five decades, including the joys of two Braves World Series championships, the crushing Falcons Super Bowl ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S9E1 Podcast: Summer School

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/07/02

Stan opens Season 9 of Off the Deaton Path talking about his summer reading (so far)—books by Nina Stibbe, Jane Gardam, Leah Hager Cohen, Helene Hanff, James Hilton, Ferrol Sams—short thoughts on the Braves lousy season (so far), a sneak peek at upcoming podcasts, and AJC political writer Jim Galloway on the 1956 Georgia state ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E23 Podcast: Confronting Jim Crow: Race, Memory,...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/06/20

Stan’s guest this week is NYU professor Robert Cohen, who discusses his new book, Confronting Jim Crow: Race, Memory, and the University of Georgia in the Twentieth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 2024). Cohen focuses his lens on UGA’s controversial and violent desegregation in 1961 and the ways that event has been remembered and ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E22 Podcast: The First Climate Scientist? Benjamin...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/06/06

Stan’s guest this week is Harvard historian Joyce Chaplin, who discusses her new book, The Franklin Stove: An Unintended American Revolution (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2025). Was Ben Franklin the first climate scientist? The Franklin stove became one of the Revolutionary era’s most iconic consumer products, spreading from Pennsylvania to Italy, and beyond. It was also ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E21 Podcast: The Fate of the Day: Rick Atkinson and...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/05/23

Stan’s guest this week is Pulitzer-Prize winner Rick Atkinson discussing his new book, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, Volume 2 of his Revolution Trilogy, published on April 29 by Crown. Rick discusses the crucial events and people—including the Siege of Savannah, Lafayette, Hamilton and Benedict Arnold—covered ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E20 Podcast: Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/05/08

May 8, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, the Allied victory in Europe over Nazi Germany. Stan’s guest this week is acclaimed author Robert Edsel, talking about his new book, Remember Us, the extraordinary story of the liberation of the Dutch people and the creation of the American Netherlands Cemetery. It is a ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E19 Podcast: Last Seen: The Enduring Search By...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/04/24

Stan’s guest this week is historian Judith Giesberg, discussing her riveting new book, Last Seen: The Enduring Search By Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families, published in February by Simon and Schuster. Slavery broke many families apart, and Giesberg’s book details the fascinating and often heartbreaking search for lost children, parents, and other ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E18 Podcast: On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR,...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/04/10

Stan’s guest is award-winning author and GHS Dooley Distinguished Fellow Steve Oney, discussing his new book On Air (published by Avid Reader Press) on the history of National Public Radio. From “All Things Considered” to “Car Talk” and “This American Life,” from Bob Edwards to Anne Garrels to Cokie Roberts and Ira Glass, Steve covers ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E17 Podcast: Shots Heard Round the World: The...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/03/27

Stan’s guest this week is renowned historian John Ferling, who talks about his new (and perhaps final) book on the American Revolution, published just in time for the event’s 250th anniversary. Ferling reflects on his life and his remarkable 50-year career as one of America’s leading historians of the Founding era.

en-US

S8E16 Podcast: The Most Powerful Court in the World:...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/03/13

Will abortion be legal? Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry? Stan’s guest is UCLA law professor Stuart Banner, discussing his latest and very timely book, The Most Powerful Court in the World: A History of the Supreme Court of the United States, published in November by Oxford University Press.

en-US

S8E15 Podcast: “Savage, Barbarian, Civilized”: The...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/02/27

Do we study the deep past only to justify our present actions toward those we deem less “civilized”? Are humans fundamentally good and altruistic or mean and self-serving? Is “human nature” warlike or peaceful? Stan’s guest this week is author and historian Stefanos Geroulanos of New York University, discussing all of these issues from his ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E14 Podcast: The Driving Machine: Why Our Cars Look...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/02/13

Stan’s guest this week is renowned architect Witold Rybczynski, who discusses his new book, The Driving Machine: A Design History of the Car, published by W.W. Norton. In this wide-ranging discussion, the author reflects on why cars are reflections of our national character, from the Model T to the Range Rover, and how automotive legends ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E13 Podcast: Is Technology Changing What it Means...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/01/30

Do people prefer texting to face-to-face encounters? Will handwriting become obsolete? Have we lost the mental capacity for patience and boredom? And if we have, does it matter? Stan’s guest this week is author and historian Christine Rosen of the American Enterprise Institute, who tackles the impact of technology on what it means to be ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E12 Podcast: Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s...

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/01/17

Stan’s guest this week is historian Bennett Parten, talking about his new book, Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s March and the Story of America’s Largest Emancipation, published by Simon & Schuster on January 21, 2025. Sherman’s March has remained controversial to this day, and this book is a major new interpretation of the March and its ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E11 Podcast: Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

Off the Deaton Path ·

2025/01/03

This week Stan talks to Christopher Cox, Senior Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Irvine, about his new book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, published in 2024 by Simon & Schuster. Cox’s focus is on Wilson’s role in the movements for women’s suffrage and racial equality, and his open hostility to both. This ...Continue Reading »

en-US

S8E10 Podcast: The 2024 Reading Year in Review

Off the Deaton Path ·

2024/12/19

This week Stan reviews his reading in 2024: how many books and pages, fiction and non-fiction, and offers tips on age-old reading problems, including: how to get more reading into your life, should you write in your books, reading in a distracted age, suffering from book guilt and how to conquer it, and more. Plus ...Continue Reading »

en-US

84 results

Off the Deaton Path

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

The Daily Horoscope

The Daily Horoscope

The Michael Decon Program

Michael Decon

Kalimera Koveos

Andrea Koveos

The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service

Smarter leben

DER SPIEGEL