Publications

Books

• A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution (Pegasus Books, 2019).
• Privateers of the Americas: Spanish American Privateering from the United States in the Early Republic (University of Georgia Press, 2015).

Edited Collections

• Co-editor with Timothy C. Hemmis, A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers, and Adventurers Who Created a New American Nation (Pegasus Books, 2023).
• Editor, The Golden Age of Piracy: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Popularity of Pirates (University of Georgia Press, 2018).
• Editor, Encyclopedia of the Atlantic World, 1400-1900: Europe, Africa, and the Americas in An Age of Exploration, Trade, and Empires (ABC-CLIO, 2017). 

Articles/Essays

• “No More Conspiracy Theories,” Current, Nov. 21, 2023. 
• “When Historians Complain About Movies,” The Bulwark, Nov. 22, 2023.
• “Show some respect for dads and 'Dad History.' These books are a Father's Day gift classic, USA Today, June 16, 2021.
• “Slave Smuggling by Foreign Privateers: Geopolitical Influences on the Illegal Slave Trade,” Journal of the Early Republic, 33 (Fall 2013), 433-462.
• "New Nations, New Connections: Spanish American Privateering from the United States and the Development of Atlantic Relations," Early American Studies, 11 (Winter 2013), 161-175.
• “Independence on the Quarterdeck: Three Baltimore Seafarers, Spanish America, and the Lives of Captains in the Early American Republic,” The Northern Mariner/le marin du nord, 23 (January 2013), 1-20.
• "Howard Pyle's Pirates: Late Victorian Children's Literature and the Best Reading for Over Refined Boys," Topic: The Washington & Jefferson College Review, 58 (2012), 93-112.
• "Baltimore Seafarers, Privateering, and the South American Revolutions, 1816-1820," Maryland Historical Magazine, 105:4 (Fall 2008), 269-293.

Awards

Recipient, Teaching Incentive Program Award, University of Central Florida, 2022.

Recipient, Research Incentive Award, University of Central Florida, 2021.

Honorable mention, 2020 Best Book Award, Journal of the American Revolution, for A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution.

Finalist, 2020 George Washington Book Prize for outstanding scholarship on the Founding Era written for a broad public audience. Presented by George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and Washington College. For A Crisis of Peace.

Honorable Mention, American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia, 2020 Book of the Year

Honorable Mention, American Revolution Round Table of Richmond, 2020 Harry M. Ward Book Prize

Winner, Ralph D. Gray Article Prize for most significant Journal of the Early Republic article in 2013 for "Slave Smuggling by Foreign Privateers: Geopolitical Influences on the Illegal Slave Trade." Presented by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, 2014.

Winner, Marion Brewington Prize for Best Essay in Chesapeake Maritime History, Baltimore Seafarers, Privateering, and the South American Revolutions, 1816-1820." Presented by the Maryland Historical Society, 2008.

Winner, Hardin Craig Award for Excellence at the Munson Institute of American Maritime History. Presented by Mystic Seaport Museum, 2001.

Courses

• Spring 2026