An Evening with Bestselling Historian Eric Jay Dolin, Author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution

The Hudson Library & Historical Society will host a live virtual streaming event with bestselling historian Eric Jay Dolin, who will discuss his new book, Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution, the heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy. A Booklist starred review opines "Dolin’s valuable achievement in recognizing and honoring these sailors’ oft-ignored contributions to American independence more fully fleshes out American naval history."

Largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Bristling with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes, they tormented their foes on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean. This program is generously funded by The Friends of The Hudson Library.

Dolin is the author of fifteen books, including A Furious Sky, which was chosen as an Editor’s Choice for The New York Times Book Review, and one of the top 100 nonfiction books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. His most recent books include A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes, Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates, and Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse. Dolin is a graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his PhD in Environmental Policy.

Copies of Rebels at Sea will be available for purchase courtesy of the Learned Owl Book Shop. Registration for this program is required and a valid email address is required at time of registration. Participants will receive an email invitation to attend the program, hosted on Zoom, a day before the program begins. If you have any questions, please email askus@hudson.lib.oh.us or call (330) 653-6658 x1010.