NATHANIEL PHILBRICK is the author of eight New York Times bestselling works of American history, including In the Heart of the Sea, winner of the 2000 National Book Award and the basis of the 2015 movie of the same title directed by Ron Howard; Mayflower, a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History; a trilogy about the American Revolution that includes Valiant Ambition, winner of the George Washington Book Prize; and Travels with George. His latest, The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World is scheduled for publication on October 6, 2026. Philbrick’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. He has appeared on the Today Show, The Morning Show, Dateline, PBS’s American Experience, the Newshour, C-SPAN, NPR, and most recently, Ken Burns’ The American Revolution. He was an All-American sailor at Brown University and lives on Nantucket Island, where he cofounded the Egan Maritime Institute.