On March 16, 2023, author Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos gave a virtual lecture on her latest book, The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd.
Marshaling in newly discovered primary source documents from archives in London, New York, and Boston, historian, and journalist Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos reconstructs the extraordinary life of Sarah Kidd, uncovering a rare example of the kind of life that pirate wives lived during the "Golden Age of Piracy." Beginning in 1684, when Sarah arrived in New York at the age of fourteen with her father and two brothers, to her death at the age of seventy-four, hers is a compelling tale of love, marriage, motherhood, and survival. This landmark work in women's history weaves together the personal and the epic in a sweeping historical story of romance and adventure.
Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos is a historian, journalist, and author of THE PIRATE'S WIFE: THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF SARAH KIDD (Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins) and THE PIRATE NEXT DOOR: THE UNTOLD STORY OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIRATES' WIVES, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES (Carolina Academic Press). She has published over 40 articles in newspapers and magazines. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications. As a regular contributor to The New York Times Syndicate’s “Lifebeat” column, her stories were published both nationally and internationally. She writes on various subjects, including maritime history, business, science, health, fitness, education, museums, parenting, philanthropy, and lifestyles and trends.
A former Legislative aide to a U.S. Congressman, she holds a Doctor of Liberal Studies degree and a Master of Liberal Studies degree from Georgetown University. She also holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from The George Washington University. During her studies at Georgetown University, she focused her research and writing on issues concerning women, families, and communities, with a special focus on pirates of the eighteenth century.
She first became interested in pirates while writing an article in 2002 for The New York Times “Museums” Special Section about the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For the last fifteen years, she has conducted extensive original research on pirates and their wives in archives in London, Washington, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. She developed a more complete and nuanced history of piracy and discovered that the lives of pirates, while indeed colorful, were often quite different from those of their literary and cinematic counterparts.
Visit her website at: http://www.DaphnePalmerGeanacopoulos.com.