The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) invites the public to a special evening honoring acclaimed journalist and author Steve Oney, who will be inducted as the 2024 Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellow. This prestigious event will take place on Thursday, September 12, at 7 p.m. at Congregation Mickve Israel, located at 20 E. Gordon Street on Monterey Square in Savannah.

This event is free and open to the public.

The induction ceremony will be followed by an engaging discussion between Steve Oney and Dr. Stan Deaton, Senior Historian and the Dr. Elaine B. Andrews Distinguished Historian at the Georgia Historical Society. Attendees will hear about Oney’s career in journalism, the painstaking research for his award-winning book on the notorious Leo Frank lynching, including how he identified many of those who participated in Frank’s kidnapping and murder, and his new book about the personalities and history of National Public Radio.

Steve Oney is an award-winning author and journalist, best known for his groundbreaking book, And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank (Pantheon, 2003). Oney is also the author of A Man’s World: A Gallery of Fighters, Creators, Actors, and Desperadoes (University of Georgia Press, 2019), a collection of twenty profiles of fascinating men written over Oney’s 40-year career for leading publications like Esquire, Premiere, GQ, TIME, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Magazine. His next book, On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR, will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2025.

His distinguished career has earned him numerous accolades, including the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize, and the National Jewish Book Award. Oney’s work has been featured in prestigious anthologies such as The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 and The Best American Sports Writing 2006. He holds degrees from the University of Georgia and Harvard University, where he was a Nieman Fellow.

Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellows are national leaders in the field of history whose research has significantly shaped public understanding of the past. In addition to their scholarly achievements, Fellows have served the Georgia Historical Society through teacher-training seminars, as lecturers, and as consultants. Previous Dooley Teaching Fellows include Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Annette Gordon-Reed (2022), Rick Atkinson (2019), and David Blight (2018).

Copies of Steve Oney’s books will be available for purchase at the event, with a signing session following the program.

For more information about the Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Fellows Program, or the Georgia Historical Society, please contact Christy Crisp, Vice President of Education and Programs, at 912.651.2125, ext.117, or by email at [email protected].