Nathaniel Philbrick Biography

Nataniel Philbrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, acquired a B.A in English from Brown and an MA in American Literature from Duke University. He worked for four years at Sailing World magazine; was a freelancer for a number of years, during which time he wrote/edited several sailing books, including Yachting: A Parody, for which he was the editor-in-chief. During this time he was also the primary caregiver for his two children. After moving to Nantucket in 1986, he became interested in the history of the island and wrote Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People. He was offered the opportunity to start the Egan Maritime Institute in 1995, and in 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea. The book is the basis of the forthcoming Warner Bros. motion picture Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Ben Wishaw, and Tom Holland, which is scheduled for release in December, 2015. The book also inspired a 2001 Dateline special on NBC as well as the 2010 2-hour PBS American Experience film Into the Deep by Ric Burns. He also wrote Sea of Glory, Mayflower and The Last Stand (The book is currently being adapted for a ten hour, multi-part television series.).

Philbricks latest New York Times bestseller, Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution, was published in 2013 and was awarded both the 2013 New England Book Award for Non-Fiction and the 2014 New England Society Book Award as well as the 2014 Distinguished Book Award of the Society of Colonial Wars. Bunker Hill has been optioned by Warner Bros. for feature film adaptation with Ben Affleck attached to direct.

Philbrick has won the National Book Award in non-fiction for In the Heart of the Sea and the Massachusetts Book Award for Mayflower, was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in History, and has received numerous other awards for his books and contributions to various museums and historical institutes.

Philbricks writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe. He has appeared on the Today Show, the Morning Show, Dateline, PBSs American Experience, C-SPAN, and NPR. He and his wife still live on Nantucket. He has two upcoming novels Saratoga planned for 2016 and Yorktown for 2018.

Nathaniel Philbrick's website

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