Lincoln Paine

Lincoln Paine is a maritime historian, author, editor, and curator whose books include the award-winning The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World (Knopf, 2013), Down East: A Maritime History of Maine (Tilbury House, 2000), and Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia (Houghton Mifflin, 1997).

The Sea and Civilization won the Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction and a Mountbatten Maritime Award from the Maritime Foundation (UK), and made “best of” lists in Choice, Booklist, and The Telegraph (UK). The New York Public Library and Library Journal recognized Ships of the World as an outstanding reference source.

Paine’s articles and reviews have been published in a wide variety of journals and magazines including The Daily Beast, Foreign Affairs, France Forum, International Journal of Maritime History, Nautical Research Journal, Naval History, The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord, Ocean Navigator, PortCity Life, Professional Mariner, and Sea History.

He has lectured on a range of maritime topics, including literature of the sea, exploration, museum curatorship, decorative arts, maritime law, trade, and naval history, at conferences, universities, libraries, clubs, and other venues in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His radio appearances include PRI’s The World and BBC Radio 3.

A graduate of Columbia College, he spent fourteen years as a non-fiction and reference book editor and, as sole proprietor of ePromBooks, currently specializes in editing academic writing by non-native speakers of English. He is also an editor of Itinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction.

A trustee of the Maine Maritime Museum, he formerly served on the boards of the Portland Stage Company and The Telling Room, Portland’s nonprofit writing center for children and young adults. He and his wife, Allison, live in Portland and have two grown daughters.