Professor Nush Powell, historian of piracy and 18th century literature — AMA!
Manushag N. “Nush” Powell, PhD, is a literary historian and Professor of English at Arizona State University, where she serves as Chair of the Department of English. Her research focuses on 18th-century British literature and culture, including print history, women’s periodicals, and narratives of piracy in literature and popular culture.
She is the author and editor of several works on the subject, including British Pirates in Print and Performance (with Frederick Burwick) and The Real History of Pirates (Wondrium course). Her work explores how pirates were represented in literature, performance, and historical writing during and after the Golden Age of Piracy.
Her broader interests include how stories about pirates were shaped, published, and transformed in the 18th century and beyond.
AMA Information & Guidelines
Feel free to start leaving questions now! We’ll leave the thread open ahead of time so the community can ask questions early and upvote the ones they’d most like answered.
Some possible topics include: 🏴☠️ Golden Age of Piracy 📚 Pirate history & research 🗺 Maritime archaeology & shipwrecks ✍️ Books, writing, and historical research 📖 Academic life & studying piracy 💥 And more!
A few quick guidelines to help keep things organized for our guest:
- Please leave questions as top-level comments only
- Upvote questions you’d most like answered
- Try to avoid replying directly to other questions so the thread stays easy to navigate
- Keep questions respectful and on-topic
- Duplicate questions are okay, upvotes will help surface the most requested topics
We’re incredibly excited to host Professor Powell, and we hope everyone enjoys the AMA!