Nathaniel Philbrick (born June 11, 1956) is 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.[1][2][3] 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.