Savannah, Ga., November 19, 2019 –  On Thursday, November 14, The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) inducted author and historian Rick Atkinson as the Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellow for 2019. The honor was bestowed by Vincent J. Dooley, Chairman Emeritus of the Georgia Historical Society Board of Curators, Walter M. “Sonny” Deriso, Chairman of the Board, and Dr. W. Todd Groce, President and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society. 
 
“Rick’s World War II Trilogy set the standard for contemporary narrative history, and the first volume of his Revolution trilogy maintains that high standard. He is a worthy successor to 2018 Dooley Fellow, David Blight,” said Dr. W. Todd Groce, President and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society.
  
Individuals designated as Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellows of the Georgia Historical Society are national leaders in the field of history as both writers and educators whose research has enhanced or changed the way the public understands the past. In addition to their outstanding scholarship, Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellows have served the Georgia Historical Society as faculty in teacher training seminars, as lecturers, as consultants, or in a similar capacity. Being designated as a Dooley Distinguished Fellow recognizes and formalizes the relationship forged through this service.
 
Atkinson is the bestselling author of the award-winning Liberation Trilogy—An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light—as well as The Long Gray Line and other books. Now, with The British Are Coming, the first volume of the Revolution Trilogy, Atkinson turns his attention to a new war, recounting the first twenty-one months of America’s war for independence.
 
Atkinson’s other awards and honors include Pulitzer Prizes for history and journalism, the George Polk Award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. A former staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post, he lives in Washington, D.C.

The induction was followed by a discussion between Atkinson and Dr. Stan Deaton, the Dr. Elaine B. Andrews Distinguished Historian at the Georgia Historical Society, about Atkinson’s new book, The British are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (Henry Holt, 2019).
 
As a Dooley Distinguished Fellow, Atkinson received a cash prize and a bust of Vince Dooley sculpted by acclaimed artist Ross Rossin of Atlanta. Known for large-scale, oil-on-canvas paintings found on the walls of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the High Museum of Art, and the Baseball Hall of Fame (to name a few), Rossin has also created busts of legends like Griffin Bell and Arthur Blank as well as the statue of Hank Aaron in SunTrust Park.

In 2018 the Georgia Historical Society inducted David Blight as the inaugural Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellow. His biography of Frederick Douglass went on to win the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in history.
  
For more information about the Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Fellows Program please contact Patricia Meagher, Director of Communications, at (912) 651-2125, ext. 153.

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