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 Universityโs 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 atย Sailing Worldย magazine, he wrote and edited several books about sailing, includingย The Passionate Sailor, Second Wind, andย Yaahting: A Parody. ย ย In 2000, Philbrick published theย New York Timesย bestsellerย In the Heart of the Sea,ย 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. ย Philbrickโs writing has appeared inย Vanity Fair, Theย New York Times Book Review, Theย Wall Street Journal, theย Los Angeles Times, and theย Boston Globe. He has appeared on the Todayย show, The Morning Show, Dateline, PBSโs American Experience, C-SPAN, and NPR. He and his wife live on Nantucket.