Bennett Parten, assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University and a Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians, is a Civil War scholar whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Civil War Monitor. A Georgia native with a PhD from Yale, he now lives in Savannah.

His book, Somewhere Toward Freedom, has been hailed as one of the most innovative studies of American emancipation. Reframing Sherman’s March to the Sea through the eyes of the enslaved, Parten reveals how tens of thousands of people transformed the campaign into the largest liberation event in American history. Blending military, social, and cultural history, he illuminates not only the march itself but also the fragile beginnings of Reconstruction that followed.

Books will be available for sale at the event, with a signing session to follow.

Free for members; $10 for non-members.

Seating is limited; registration is encouraged via Eventbrite

St. Simons Casino Theater