Frederick C. Leiner is a lawyer and historian of the early American republic whose interests center on maritime, diplomatic, and legal history. He has written three books: Prisoners of the Bashaw: The Nineteen-Month Captivity of American Sailors in Tripoli, 1803-1805 (2022), which was a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize; The End of Barbary Terror: America’s 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa (2006); and Millions for Defense: The Subscription Warships of 1798 (2000).
He spent his legal career at two law firms in Baltimore and at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.
He received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MPhil in International Relations from Cambridge University, and a JD from the University of Virginia.