Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathaniel Philbrickis an American author and a member of the Philbrick literary family. He won the year 2000 National Book Award for his maritime history, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. His 2006 Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War was named one of The New York Times' ten best books of the year and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
almost courage creative god great peers scared shy signed work
When I was at Brown, I wanted to write the great American novel, but I was too scared to take a creative course. I signed up for one, got in, and just didn't have the courage to go. I was a tremendously shy person, almost pathologically shy. The thought of peers critiquing my work - oh, God.
characters great lively people sort
Some of my books sort of have a provocative take. Sometimes you find interesting things about characters that show they weren't necessarily the way people usually see them. It can make for lively conversations, but that's great. Spark a little controversy, get people to think about it. That's what it's all about.
cab death huge impress listened neil ryan type
XTC is my favorite band; I'm a huge Neil Young fan, Jayhawks, all that type of stuff. I like Death Cab for Cutie, also Ryan Adams. I try to impress my children: 'Have you listened to such-and-such?' They're not impressed.
best crafting move word
Writing can't be too calculated. My best writing is when I set it aside, move on. It's not when I'm crafting a sentence, thinking about what word should follow another.
actual event face historical house maintained matter visit whether
One of the questions I face when working on a book about a historical event is whether I should visit the actual place that I'm writing about. No matter how scrupulously maintained a historic house or battlefield may be, it is nothing like it was in the long-ago past.
came fighting good liberty oppressive revolution versus
Many of us came away from our youth thinking that the story of the Revolution was that the Americans were patriots fighting the oppressive British. It was kind of good versus evil, liberty versus tyranny. When you get into it, you find that it was much more complicated.
cockpit
Whatever you read, there's no better place to read than the cockpit or the berth of a boat. It's kind of like being in a womb.
Reading 'Moby-Dick' helps you discover how to live.
art
I'll watch anything, from action to art films.
For me, the hardest thing in the world is how to start a book.
history narrative
As an author of narrative history, I read a lot of history books.
english fascinated former history literature
As a former English major, I have always been fascinated by the connections between literature and history.
Martin Scorsese, everything he does, I've got to see. And Jack Nicholson, I've got to see what he does.
history
If you live on Nantucket, you can't avoid its history, and 'Moby Dick' is the way most of us get into Nantucket's history.