Category Archives: War

S8E20 Podcast: Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and a Forever Promise Forged in World War II

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 riveting account of freedom, sacrifice, and eternal gratitude. Edsel is the author of The Monuments Men, and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost advocates for art preservation and the recovery of cultural treasures missing since World War II.

S8E17 Podcast: Shots Heard Round the World: The American Revolution and John Ferling

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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.

S8E12 Podcast: Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s March Revisited

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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 legacy in American history. Parten focuses on how the March played a significant role in ending the Civil War, due in no small part to the efforts of the tens of thousands of enslaved people who became a part of it as the US Army marched across Georgia towards Savannah.

After the War: The Post-War Lives of Civil War Leaders

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Stan was recently interviewed by Roger Smith of The Learning Center of Senior Citizens, Inc. in Savannah for an expansive conversation about post-Civil War America. How did the United States re-unite—and remain divided—after the deadliest conflict in US history? Were Confederates guilty of treason? Why weren’t there widespread executions? What happened to ex-Confederate leaders and what, exactly, happened during Reconstruction? This pre-recorded talk aired as the series debut of a collection of programs at The Learning Center entitled “After the War.” The conversation delves into the harshness—or ease—with which former Confederates were woven back into the fabric of society, the birth of the Lost Cause, and the history of political “second acts” in American history. For more information about the series, visit https://seniorcitizensinc.org/the-learning-center.

Podcast S7E15: Liberty Street: A Savannah Family, Its Golden Boy, and the Civil War

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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 still haunt the present. Liberty Street chronicles my journey to understand the Solomon Cohen family and the way their lives intersected with their enslaved workers, Savannah’s Jewish community, and their Christian neighbors. I became interested in the way we talk about the Civil War, its origins, and aftermath. What do we remember? Or choose to forget? I came to know the denizens of Liberty Street 150 years before I moved there, and to understand my own story as a Jew, a Southerner, and an American.”