Marcus Rediker
Marcus Rediker (born 1951 in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an American professor, historian, writer, and activist for a variety of peace and social justice causes. He graduated with a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 and attended the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study, earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in history. He taught at Georgetown University from 1982 to 1994, lived in Moscow for a year (1984-5), and is currently Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History of the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh. Scholarship. Rediker has written several books on Atlantic social, labor, and maritime  history. Informed by the Marxist critique of capitalism, they explore their respective subjects in systemic terms while emphasizing human class-consciousness and agency. In the introduction to "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", for example, he explains: Rediker's approach can yield surprising discoveries and perspectives—like the egalitarianism of some pirate crews. "Pirates used the precapitalist share system to apportion their take," he argues in "Villains of All Nations": His most recent scholarship has turned to the related topics of the transatlantic slave trade and slave uprisings. Awards. Rediker has won a number of awards for his  works such as the George Washington Book Prize (2008), OAH Merle Curti Award (2008), National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow (2005–2006), American Council of Learned Societies Fellow (2005–2006) Distinguished Lecturer, OAH (2002–08), International Labor History Book Prize (2001), OAH Merle Curti Social History Book Award (1988) and ASA John Hope Franklin Book Prize (1988)