James L. Haley is the author of the Bliven Putnam naval series, the most recent volume of which, A Darker Sea, was published in 2017. The acclaimed first installment in the series, The Shores of Tripoli, led the Wall Street Journal to call Haley “an American Patrick O’Brian.”

Haley’s award-winning works of nonfiction include, most recently, Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii (St. Martin’s), as well as Wolf: The Lives of Jack London (Basic), Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas (Free Press) and Sam Houston: A Biography. He lives in Austin.