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Credit: USC Digital Library, Dick Whittington Studio
ABOUT
Josh Hanna is the author of Pemaquid Peninsula: A Midcoast Maine History (History Press: 2015). A project that began as his undergraduate thesis at Dartmouth College became a tribute to his hometown on its 250th anniversary. He is currently researching and writing a forthcoming book about the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. It will be available before the Games return to the city for LA28. An avowed history nut and sports fan, Josh is a member of the International Olympic Committee-recognized International Society of Olympic Historians.
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He is a former Ancestry.com executive who launched and managed the company's international expansion from London; oversaw global marketing, communications and content acquisition from San Francisco; and was a key part of the senior leadership team that championed the company's successful IPO in 2009. Josh was a frequent guest on BBC, ITV, Sky News, CBC, and NBC for history and business interviews. His speaking engagements included appearances with Ken Burns, Sir Anthony Robinson, Blair Underwood, and Lisa Kudrow in support of the television series Who Do You Think You Are? He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude with high honors in history from Dartmouth College while running cross-country and track under future U.S. Olympic (2016) track & field coach and President of USA Track & Field Vin Lananna.
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When Josh isn’t researching and writing he spends his time running and meticulously planning his family’s international travel. He lives in Mill Valley, California with his wife and their two athletic daughters.
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BOOKS
​Josh grew up in the tiny coastal village of Round Pond on the Pemaquid Peninsula. He went to school in Bristol, played baseball in New Harbor, and walked along the rocky shore at Pemaquid Point where his family first settled in Maine. What began as his undergraduate honors thesis at Dartmouth College, grew into this tribute in honor of Bristol's 250th anniversary.
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Pemaquid Peninsula is a story of nineteenth century growth, decline, and rebirth that is so common along the coast of Maine.
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If you are in the area, be sure to visit the Granite Hall Store in Round Pond and Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta where you can find this and many other great books.
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Amazon Reader Reviews
Every region should have its history told as well as this. The author clearly knows his stuff, and knows how to share the sweep of local history in a way that is both interesting and relevant.
A thoroughly enjoyable and well-researched book. A nice summer read.
A part of the world so rich in history deserves a thorough, engaging, and well illustrated account. Hanna's book delivers.
CURRENT PROJECT
I’m a New Englander who calls California home, and who, despite running collegiately at Dartmouth, got no closer to the Olympics than the Junior Olympic variety. I have been fascinated with the Olympics since watching the drama of the 1984 Los Angeles Games—Carl Lewis flying around the Coliseum track and through the air; fellow Mainer Joan Benoit winning the first women’s Olympic marathon; and Mary Lou Retton making me care about gymnastics.
But it is the earlier 1932 Olympics that I have researched and written a forthcoming book about in advance of the 2028 Games. Over the coming months and years I will be sharing stories of these first LA Games in my newsletter.
Sign up here: la32games.substack.com
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CONTACT
To contact Josh: josh@joshhannabooks.com
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Sign Up for Josh's 1932 Los Angeles Olympics newsletter at:
For information regarding literary rights, please contact John Rudolph at
Dystel, Goderich & Bourret:
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Tel: 212 595-0370
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