
This episode is hosted by Jeremy D’Entremont and Cindy Johnson, and the featured interview is the award-winning maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin.
Eric has written thirteen books and more than 60 articles on American history. His books include Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which won a number of awards and was selected as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Providence Journal; Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America, which was selected by the Seattle Times as one the top nonfiction books of 2010; When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail, which was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the top ten non fiction books of Fall 2012. His newest book is Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates, published in 2018.
But the book that’s discussed at length in the Light Hearted interview is Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse, published in 2016.

C. Douglas Kroll, Sea History Magazine, wrote of Brilliant Beacons: “A must-read for anyone interested in lighthouses or America’s maritime history…This history of American lighthouses is both engaging and enjoyable, whether for academics, who will not be disappointed in the thoroughness of the author’s research, or for lighthouse history buffs who will enjoy its compelling narrative.”
Click here for Eric Jay Dolin’s website.
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U.S. Lighthouse Society Historian Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of 24 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is a past president of the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s weekly podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org