Nantucket Author Given D.C. Tribute
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11-Nathaniel Philbrick told one friend, the editor of Nantucket Magazine, that he had to go to some book fair in Washington this weekend. To another friend, the longtime owner of a local bookstore, he didn’t even mention the trip.
When each learned that Philbrick had been honored in the nation’s capital as one of 70 distinguished authors at the Library of Congress and Laura Bush’s National Book Festival Saturday, they described the humility as “classic Nat.”
“He’s an understater if there ever was one,” said Mimi Beman, owner of Mitchell’s Book Corner on Nantucket’s Main Street, who has known Philbrick for more than a decade. She said his genuine passion for the island’s history has prompted even the most territorial natives to embrace the Pittsburgh transplant.
“He’s very modest and a serious historian,” Beman said in a telephone interview. “That’s all you need to be accepted by locals.”
But Philbrick’s acceptance by readers reaches beyond the depths of Nantucket Sound.
His book “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,” which chronicled the plight of the Nantucket whaling ship that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” won the 2000 National Book Foundation award in the nonfiction category.
At the festival, which last year drew an estimated 70,000 people to the National Mall, the 48-year-old author spoke about his most recent book, “Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery – The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.”
Released in 2003, the book carefully details a six-vessel global expedition that departed from the Pacific coast and contributed a wealth of information and artifacts to the nascent American government.
“This was really a space race,” Philbrick said, describing competitive pressures that often pushed explorers into perilous situations. “This was an expedition beyond the scope of anything anyone had ever launched.”
Audience delighted
During his remarks in the History and Biography Tent, Philbrick delighted the audience with rich language, hand gestures and intimate anecdotes about the book’s adventures.
Nearing the climax of one tale, his tone quickly shifted from engaging to flat. “You’re going to have to read the book to find out how that one ends,” the accomplished sailor told them with a grin.
The audience burst into blended applause and laughter.
Philbrick, who also attended the festival in 2001, has earned a reputation as a tireless researcher and for his ability to pump life into historical events – a characteristic that in recent years has invigorated interest in nonfiction book writing.
“There’s enough detail that you can get your teeth into the narrative,” said David Brown, a Washington Post science writer who introduced Philbrick. “Because of that, it really challenges the reader to imagine how they might perform in one of these situations.”
Stories shared
Philbrick signed books for an hour-long stream of admirers before turning the table over to PBS’ Jim Lehrer, another of the festival’s honorees, to do a segment for C-Span. Readers traded handshakes and smiles with Philbrick and shared stories about traveling to Cape Cod and the islands.
“His nonfiction comes alive,” said Christian McBurney, a Washington lawyer originally from Kingston, R.I. “Seafaring is such a rich part of our history. His books – history books – read like novels.”
Philbrick spent summers with his family in West Falmouth as a boy and met his wife, Melissa, there during the 1970s when they taught sailing together. They moved to Nantucket with their two children in 1986 when Melissa, a lawyer, took a job on the island.
Currently, Philbrick is working on a book about the 55 years between the 1620 sailing of the Mayflower and King Philip’s War. While the topic captivates him, his muse remains on Nantucket.
“I get very patriotic when it comes to the history of Nantucket,” Philbrick said. “People there have always had an exaggerated sense of themselves, but so much of its history has to do with what went on in the rest of the world.”
