Since 2009, Galland has been actively documenting the Georgia Coast in a series of books published through the University of Georgia Press. Working in tandem with an author, the books strive to historically and accurately illustrate the story of their Island, from geological formation to current politics. Interlaced with Galland's photos and interesting sidebars, this series has become the go-to for anyone interested in the area. 

Galland is currently under contract with UGA Press for a book on Cumberland Island, Georgia's largest barrier island. Reuniting with author Jingle Davis, he is also completing a book on historical tabby structures, ranging from St. Augustine, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. Accompanied with Galland's photos, Davis uses these sites to springboard into the life of the people and place of that time. Be on the lookout for Cumberland and Tabby in late 2019. 

Island Time: An Illustrated History of St. Simons Island, GA

University of Georgia Press, 2013

Eighty miles south of Savannah lies St. Simons Island, one of the most beloved seaside destinations in Georgia and home to some twenty thousand year-round residents. In Island Time, Jingle Davis and Benjamin Galland offer a fascinating history and stunning visual celebration of this coastal community.

Prehistoric people established some of North America's first permanent settlements on St. Simons, leaving three giant shell rings as evidence of their occupation. People from other diverse cultures also left their mark: Mocama and Guale Indians, Spanish friars, pirates and privateers, British soldiers and settlers, German religious refugees, and aristocratic antebellum planters. Enslaved Africans and their descendants forged the unique Gullah Geechee culture that survives today. Davis provides a comprehensive history of St. Simons, connecting its stories to broader historical moments. Timbers for Old Ironsides were hewn from St. Simons's live oaks during the Revolutionary War. Aaron Burr fled to St. Simons after killing Alexander Hamilton. Susie Baker King Taylor became the first black person to teach openly in a freedmen's school during her stay on the island. Rachel Carson spent time on St. Simons, which she wrote about in The Edge of the Sea.

The island became a popular tourist destination in the 1800s, with visitors arriving on ferries until a causeway opened in 1924. Davis describes the challenges faced by the community with modern growth and explains how St. Simons has retained the unique charm and strong sense of community that it is known for today. Featuring more than two hundred contemporary photographs, historical images, and maps, Island Time is an essential book for people interested in the Georgia coast.

Island Passages: An Illustrated History of Jekyll Island, Georgia

University of Georgia Press, 2016

Although it is among the smallest of Georgia’s Golden Isles, Jekyll Island boasts a depth of history rivaling that of its larger neighbors. The island embraces two National Historic Landmarks, a listing reserved for the nation’s most significant treasures. More than fifty archaeological sites have been excavated on Jekyll; others remain unexplored, including an Indian burial mound discovered recently on the grounds of a beachfront motel.

Written in a lively, accessible style by Jingle Davis and lavishly illustrated with photographs by Benjamin Galland, Island Passages is a solid work of public history that presents a carefully researched document of Jekyll Island, from its geologic beginning as a shifting sand spit to its present-day ownership by the state of Georgia.

While many books have been published about Jekyll, most focus on specific eras or episodes of island history―such as the Jekyll Island Club, the landing of the slaveship Wanderer, and the Du Bignon family dynasty. Davis and Galland’s book makes an important contribution to the island’s literature because it synthesizes all these aspects into a comprehensive and beautifully executed history that will appeal to coastal and island history aficionados and the general reader alike.

Sapelo: People and Place on a Georgia Sea Island

University of Georgia Press, 2017

Sapelo, a state-protected barrier island off the Georgia coast, is one of the state’s greatest treasures. Presently owned almost exclusively by the state and managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Sapelo features unique nature charac­teristics that have made it a locus for scientific research and ecological conservation. Beginning in 1949, when then Sapelo owner R. J. Reynolds Jr. founded the Sapelo Island Research Foundation and funded the research of biologist Eugene Odum, UGA’s study of the island’s fragile wetlands helped foster the modern ecology movement.

With this book, Buddy Sullivan covers the full range of the island’s history, including Native American inhabitants; Spanish missions; the antebellum plantation of the innovative Thomas Spalding; the African American settlement of the island after the Civil War; Sapelo’s two twentieth-century millionaire owners, Howard E. Coffin and R. J. Reynolds Jr., and the development of the University of Georgia Marine Institute; the state of Georgia acquisition; and the transition of Sapelo’s multiple African American communities into one.

Sapelo Island’s history also offers insights into the unique cultural circumstances of the residents of the community of Hog Hammock. Sullivan provides in-depth examination of the important correlation between Sapelo’s culturally significant Geechee communities and the succession of private and state owners of the island. The book’s thematic approach is one of “people and place”: how prevailing environmental conditions influenced the way white and black owners used the land over generations, from agriculture in the past to island management in the present. Enhanced by a large selection of contemporary color photographs of the island as well as a selection of archival images and maps, Sapelo documents a unique island history.