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 currently serves as the chairman of the maritime committee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture.
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.