Colin Woodard is an American journalist and writer, best known for his books American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, The Republic of Pirates, and The Lobster Coast, a cultural and environmental history of coastal Maine. His first book, Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas, appeared in 2000. He is State & National Affairs Writer at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He received a 2012 George Polk Award for an investigative project he did for those papers. He received a 2004 Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Public Advocacy, the 2012 Maine Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and a Pew Fellowship in International Journalism at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He was also a finalist for a 2013 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. In 2014, the Washington Post named him one of the "Best State Capitol Reporters in America". His third book, The Republic of Pirates, is the basis of the 2014 NBC drama Crossbones, written by Neil Cross and starring John Malkovich. 

January 1st, 2000 in (Age 24)