Nathaniel Philbrick, author portrait
© Christopher Noble

Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned a BA in English from Brown University and an MA in America Literature from Duke University, where he was a James B. Duke Fellow. He was Brown University’s first Intercollegiate All-American sailor in 1978, the same year he won the Sunfish North Americans in Barrington, Rhode Island. After working as an editor at Sailing World magazine, he wrote and edited several books about sailing, including The Passionate Sailor, Second Wind, and Yaahting: A Parody.     In 2000, Philbrick published the New York Times bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, which won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The book is the basis of the Warner Bros. motion picture Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Ben Wishaw, and Tom Holland. The book also inspired a 2001 Dateline special on NBC as well as the 2010 two-hour PBS American Experience film Into the Deep by Ric Burns.   Philbrick’s 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, PBS’s American Experience, C-SPAN, and NPR. He and his wife live on Nantucket.
The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World
In the Heart of the Sea

Books

The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World
In the Heart of the Sea

2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

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Videos from the 2024 First-Year Experience® Conference are now available

We’re pleased to share videos from the 2024 First-Year Experience® Conference. Whether you weren’t able to join us at the conference or would simply like to hear the talks again, please take a moment to view the clips below.   Penguin Random House Author Breakfast Monday, February 19th, 7:15 – 8:45 am PST This event

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NEA Big Read Introduces New Theme “Where We Live.” Applications Now Open.

In case you missed it, in October the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced new guidelines for its NEA Big Read initiative and the 2024-2025 theme “Where We Live” alongside 50 books available for selection, culled from its archive. Applications are now open for grants to support NEA Big Read projects between September 2024

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NEA Announces New Additions to the Big Read Library

  NEA Announces New Additions to the Big Read Library   The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Arts Midwest have announced six new additions to the 2019 NEA Big Read, a nationwide community reading initiative. With programs centered around a single book, communities come together to share the experience of reading and deepen

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