Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick in 2004

Nathaniel Philbrick (born 1956) is an American author and a winner of the National Book Award for his 2000 work of maritime history In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. He is member of the Philbrick literary family.

Life

Nathaniel Philbrick was born June 11, 1956 Boston, Massachusetts. He currently lives in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He is married to Melissa Douthart Philbrick, the Executive Director of Remain Nantucket.

Education

Philbrick graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, earned his bachelor's degree in English at Brown University, and his master's degree in American literature at Duke University.

Philbrick was Brown’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978; that year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, Rhode Island.

Family

Philbrick is married to Melissa Douthart Philbrick, who is Executive Director of Remain Nantucket. They have two children Jennie and Ethan. He moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1986, and is a leading authority on the history of the island.

Career

After graduate school, Philbrick 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 Yaahting: A Parody (1984), 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.

In 2000 he published In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. This was followed by Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, in 2003. In 2006, Philbrick published a new history of the founding of the Plymouth colony in the United States, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn was published in May 2010. He is presently at work on a book about Boston during the early years of the Revolution.

Awards

Mayflower was a finalist for both the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History and the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was winner of the Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. In the Heart of the Sea won the National Book Award for nonfiction; Revenge of the Whale won a Boston Globe Horn Book Award; Sea of Glory won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the Albion-Monroe Award from the National Maritime Historical Society. Philbrick has also received the Byrne Waterman Award from the Kendall Whaling Museum, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for distinguished service from the USS Constitution Museum, the Nathaniel Bowditch Award from the American Merchant Marine Museum, the William Bradford Award from the Pilgrim Society, the Boston History Award from the Bostonian Society, and the New England Book Award from the New England Independent Booksellers Association.

See also

• Frank Philbrick
• Rodman Philbrick
• Stephen Philbrick

References

• Kakutani, Michiko (June 3, 2010). "The Last Stand? Yes. The Last Word? Never". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/books/04book.html?_r=1. 
• Barcott, Bruce (June 10, 2010). "Men on Horseback". review (New York Times Sunday Book Review). http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/books/review/Barcott-t.html. 
• Percelay, Bruce (May 25, 2010). "Beyond Nantucket with Nathaniel Philbrick". N Magazine. http://www.nantucketmagazine.net/NSide/?p=1426. 

External links

• American Merchant Marine Museum
• Little Bighorn, Large Legend, Roger D. McGrath, The Wall Street Journal, 18 June 2010
• The Last Stand of Custer and Sitting Bull, Bookpod audio essay
• Booknotes interview with Philbrick on Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842, January 25, 2004.