I am an award-winning historian of early America, the American Revolution, and the colonial South, with a particular focus on Georgia, South Carolina, and the Loyalist experience. I received my PhD in History from Georgia State University and am a Part-Time Assistant Professor of History at Kennesaw State University. I have taught high school and college since 1994, and since 2015 I have taught AP U.S. History and Government at North Springs High School (Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia).
My first book, From Empire to Revolution: Sir James Wright and the Price of Loyalty in Georgia (University of Georgia Press, 2024), is the first full biography of Georgia’s last royal governor and won the 2025 Award for Excellence in Documenting Georgia’s History from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council. It follows Wright’s long imperial career and his struggle to balance loyalty to Crown and colony as royal authority collapsed. The book was reviewed in The Wall Street Journal and the Journal of the American Revolution.
I am now writing my second book, Henry Laurens: A Southern Founder, a biography of the Charleston merchant, planter, and slave trader who became president of the Continental Congress. Notes from that research appear here as Today in Henry Laurens.
I speak regularly to historical societies, DAR and SAR chapters, libraries, museums, and academic conferences, and I have appeared on podcasts and on Georgia Public Broadcasting. I also work with K–12 teachers on bringing primary sources into the classroom. See my upcoming events, or get in touch about a talk.
