Historian (from below), award-winning author, filmmaker, playwright, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh marcusrediker.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtlpaj4r5s2zTremendously honored that my book *Freedom Ship* has been given a Josephine Miles Award by PEN Oakland, a writers group founded by Ishmael Reed and others in 1991, the “Blue Collar PEN,” according to the *New York Times*. Other winners this year include Walter Mosley and Boots Riley.21 Aug 2026 11:54 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtlpaj4r5s2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtj2a6towc2aHere is an interview I did about the body of my work with Thiago Gama for the Brazilian platform @outraspalavras.net. The title is “The Ship: The Factory before the Factory.” You can read it in either Portuguese or (with Google translate) English. https://outraspalavras.net/historia-e-memoria/rediker-o-navio-a-fabrica-antes-da-fabrica/20 Aug 2026 10:33 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtj2a6towc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mt72faoyvc2qSad to hear of the passing of Sumit Sarkar, one of India’s greatest historians. It was an honor to meet him when I visited Kolkata and Delhi in 2008. He was a brilliant, gentle, altogether lovely man. The world is poorer today. https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/obituary/sumit-sarkar-historian-modern-india-history/article71349040.ece16 Aug 2026 11:09 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mt72faoyvc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3msxjwrnz422jIn my new book on “history from below,” I will discuss what I learned from my grandfather, a coal miner and a master storyteller, as he sat at the kitchen table, Lucky Strike cigarette in one hand, a cup of Maxwell House coffee in the other, spinning marvelous tales. He worked in Beech Creek, KY.13 Aug 2026 11:26 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxjwrnz422jhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms45ussirc2kFor all you writers out there: a list of sixteen writing tips, culled from long experience of trying get unruly words down onto the page. Originally posted on social media, recently republished in the *Pittsburgh Review of Books (@pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social). https://pghrev.com/sixteen-writing-tips-from-marcus-rediker/02 Aug 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms45ussirc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3msb7lihhfs23Later this month — please mark your calendars! Tony Buba and I will screen our film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay* at the City of Asylum, 40 W North Ave., Pittsburgh on Monday, August 31 at 7:00 pm. Join us! https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/04 Aug 2026 14:22 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3msb7lihhfs23https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms6dwdfa2k27A third thing-I-planned-to-do but never did: write an overview of labor history for 17c/18c North America, a book-length version of my article “Good Hands, Stout Hearts, and Fast Feet.” Commissioned by Eric Foner for Hill & Wang Books. I was too busy with *The Many Headed-Hydra*.03 Aug 2026 11:02 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms6dwdfa2k27https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms45ussirc2kFor all you writers out there: a list of sixteen writing tips, culled from long experience of trying get unruly words down onto the page. Originally posted on social media, recently republished in the *Pittsburgh Review of Books (@pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social). https://pghrev.com/sixteen-writing-tips-from-marcus-rediker/02 Aug 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms45ussirc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrzcbu5gy22zComing in September 2026, a translation into German of my book *Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea*, courtesy of Assoziation A based in Berlin. https://www.assoziation-a.de/buch/freiheitsschiffe/01 Aug 2026 10:49 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrzcbu5gy22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrxponccok2gGrateful to be shortlisted for the MAAH Stone Book Award! (@maahstonebookaward.bsky.social) Congratulations to the authors of all the books! [contains quote post or other embedded content]31 Jul 2026 19:44 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrxponccok2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrwxuyjnv227Heaven help us. Over the past week I have received thirteen different AI-driven scamming emails from fictive people who say they want to feature one or another of my books in reading clubs. I hope no one out there is falling for this kind of thing.31 Jul 2026 12:38 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrwxuyjnv227https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrubdkjef22oAnother thing-I-planned-to-do but never did: in 1990 Robin Blackburn invited me to conduct a set of interviews with the great historian Christopher Hill, to be published by Verso Books. The modest Christopher did not want to talk about himself so I relented. I wish I hadn’t. This is a real regret.30 Jul 2026 10:49 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrubdkjef22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrrqlix67s2rHonored to say the my book *Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea* (Viking) has been shortlisted for the Stone Book Prize awarded by the Museum of African American History (@maahstonebookaward.bsky.social ebookaward.bsky.social). https://www.maahstonebookaward.org/library/freedomship29 Jul 2026 10:44 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrrqlix67s2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrpbgyck422jOne of those things-I-planned-to-do but never got around to: review Bernard Bailyn’s White Atlantic trilogy on the “peopling of America,” especially *The Barbarous Years*, under the title, “Waiting for the Barbarians.”28 Jul 2026 11:07 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrpbgyck422jhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrmpflb2q222Here’s an interview with one of my favorite poets and musicians, the incomparable Linton Kewsi Johnson. I discovered his work when I went to London for the first time in 1979. LKJ has long been an inspiration. His music was the soundtrack to one of my book, *Outlaws of the Atlantic*. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/arts/music/dread-beat-an-blood-linton-kwesi-johnson.html?unlocked_article_code=1.01A.QiQv.UVH5_LljUyDp&smid=bs-share27 Jul 2026 10:39 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrmpflb2q222https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrf6kczmi22nHere is an excellent review of our film *Becoming Benjamin Lay* by climate and animal rights activist Lee Hall (@leehall.bsky.social), aptly entitled, “Whose History? Our History.” Thank you, Lee! https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/24/whose-history-our-history-a-review-of-the-documentary-becoming-benjamin-lay/24 Jul 2026 10:49 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrf6kczmi22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mrakaqumjk2qI have been studying the Atlantic and its workers for almost fifty years now – a vast historic space of deadly repression and heroic resistance, its sea-bed an unmarked cemetery for millions. These many decades later it still whispers stories to me, especially when it is in this mood.22 Jul 2026 14:35 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrakaqumjk2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mra6tyalxs2mI’ve done a lot of interviews, but this one stands out. I spoke with Fritz McAlinden for his podcast, @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social. He asked smart, well-informed questions and I enjoyed the conversation immensely. Love the title: “World-Historical Mischief.” https://www.patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs/posts/33-world-w-16442966722 Jul 2026 11:11 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mra6tyalxs2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mq37r5ghoc2wWhen I was in Argentina in 2024 I asked a bunch of people, “Messi or Maradona?” Every single one of them said Maradona. I don’t know ….07 Jul 2026 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq37r5ghoc2whttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mpvhpljql22lA new book by my friend Sharon Salinger, just published by University of Virginia Press: *Perceived in Print: Indigenous American and French Ideas of the Other*. I have known Sharon for decades and she is truly an outstanding historian. Can’t wait to read it! www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10207/05 Jul 2026 11:25 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpvhpljql22lhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mptjdsoxsc2gJuly 4th from below! How rebellious sailors, enslaved people, and the motley crew propelled the American Revolution, a condensed chapter of *The Many-Headed Hydra*, written by Peter Linebaugh and me, now published in *Economic and Political Weekly*, based in Mumbai. https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/26-27/web-exclusives/motley-crew-american-revolution.html04 Jul 2026 16:49 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mptjdsoxsc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mpodpl5mqs26As always, with thanks to the Zinn Education Project! @zinnedproject.bsky.social [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Jul 2026 15:25 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpodpl5mqs26https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mpbccjx7i22qPlease mark your calendars! We will screen our film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*, directed by Tony Buba, at Pittsburgh's City of Asylum (@cityofasylum.bsky.social) on Monday, August 31 at 7:00 pm. Join us! https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/27 Jun 2026 10:55 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpbccjx7i22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mp6rql4kik2tMy film with Tony Buba, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*, will be screened tomorrow, June 27, in the Sam Yan Film Festival in Bangkok, Thailand. It is an honor to be able to bring the story of the radical abolitionist Lay to viewers in Thailand, thanks to Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal.26 Jun 2026 10:53 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp6rql4kik2thttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mp4cgntyqs2mJust finished one of the best novels I’ve read in years: *Ghost-Eye* by my friend @amitav.bsky.social. It’s riveting from beginning to end in its vivid storytelling, driving dramatic tension, and radical environmental message. Highly recommended! https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374298395/ghosteye/25 Jun 2026 11:14 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp4cgntyqs2m