Eric Jay Dolin

Eric Jay Dolin (born 1961) is an American author who writes history books, which often focus on maritime topics, wildlife, and the environment. He has published eleven books, which have won numerous awards.

Dolin grew up near the coasts of New York and Connecticut, and graduated from Brown University, where he majored in biology and environmental studies. After getting a master's degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, he received his Ph.D. in environmental policy and planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Eric and his wife Jennifer live in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with their two children.

Dolin has worked as a program manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; an environmental consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton (MD) and Environmental Resources Limited (London); an intern at the National Wildlife Federation, the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, and for Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. on Capitol Hill; a fisheries policy analyst at the National Marine Fisheries Service; a technical writer for the National Transportation Safety Board; a PEW research fellow at Harvard Law School; and an American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Business Week.

When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the top 100 nonfiction books for 2012; won a gold medal for history in the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards; and was chosen by the Boston Author's Club as a "Highly Recommended Book."

Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America won the 2010 James P. Hanlan Book Award, given by the New England Historical Association; a bronze medal for history in the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards; and was awarded first place in the Outdoor Writers Association of America, Excellence in Craft Contest.

Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; the twenty-third annual L. Byrne Waterman Award, given by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, for outstanding contributions to whaling research and history; a silver medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

The Duck Stamp Story: Art, Conservation, History (Krause Publications, 2000) won the Gold medal for books at the 2001 American Philatelic Society Stampshow.

Dolin has been awarded an E. Geoffrey and Elizabeth Thayer Verney Fellowship, Nantucket Historical Association (2005); a Martin Environmental Fellowship, MIT (1990–1991); a Switzer Environmental Fellowship (1990–1991 and 1989–1990)l and a C.V. Starr Fellowship for National Service, Brown University (1982–1983). And in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented Dolin with a certificate recognizing his contribution to the joint award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC.