Category Archives: Podcast

S9E15 Podcast: A Nation of Laws: A Conversation with Larry D. Thompson

Stan’s guest this week is Larry Thompson, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States during the administration of President George W. Bush, and author of a recently published memoir, Quiet Counsel: Looking Back on a Life of Service to the Law (Disruption Books, 2024). Larry—who also serves on the GHS Board of Curators—discusses his childhood in segregated Missouri, his remarkable parents, attending law school at the University of Michigan, his service as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, his work at the Justice Department, his memories of 9/11, and the importance of the rule of law as we approach the US250.

S9E14 Podcast: Being Thomas Jefferson

As part of GHS’s ongoing US250 commemoration, Stan’s guest this week is author and historian Andrew Burstein, talking about his new book, Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (Bloomsbury, 2026). Burstein is a nationally recognized authority on Jefferson, the author of ten books, co-author of two others, recently retired as Charles P. Manship Professor of History at LSU. He advised and served as on-air commentator on Ken Burns’ acclaimed 1997 film, Thomas Jefferson. His new book is “the deepest dive yet into the heart and soul, secret affairs, unexplored alliances, and bitter feuds of this generally worshipped, intermittently reviled American icon.” Perhaps no founding father is as mysterious as Thomas Jefferson. What did it feel like to be Thomas Jefferson?

S9E13 Podcast: The American Revolution as a Global Conflict

As part of GHS’s ongoing US250 commemoration, Stan’s guest this week is historian and British native Richard Bell, talking about his new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (Penguin/Riverhead, 2025), which offers a global perspective on the American independence movement. Bell puts the Revolution at the center of an international web, and his narrative ranges from Canada to the Caribbean, from India to Central America, and from West Florida to Australia. As his lens widens, the War of Independence becomes a sprawling struggle that upended the lives of millions of people on every continent and fundamentally transformed the way the world works, disrupting trade, restructuring penal systems, stirring famine, and creating the first global refugee crisis.

S9E12 Podcast: Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters

As part of GHS’s ongoing commemoration of the US250, Stan’s guest this week is author and historian Edward J. Larson, discussing his new book, Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters (WW Norton, 2026). At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the American colonies advocated for independence: Americans based their grievances against Parliament on their rights as British subjects. By the mid-point of 1776, the United States was an independent republic. How did it happen, why did they choose a republic and not another king, and what does it mean for us now, 250 years later?

S9E11 Podcast: The US 250

Stan’s guest this week is GHS President and CEO Dr. Todd Groce, talking about the 250th anniversary of the United States, upcoming this year on July 4, 2026. What does this anniversary mean for our country and its people, especially given the divisive times in which we live? We’ll discuss the ongoing legacy of the Revolution and what GHS is doing to commemorate this important anniversary.