Dr. Kenneth J. Banks
Award-winning historian, teacher, and author exploring empire, revolution, and the lives of ordinary people who crossed the eighteenth-century Atlantic. Associate Professor of History at Wofford College — available for talks, readings, and bookstore events.
Possibilities
(cover to come)
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Books
Two books spanning the reach — and the limits — of France's Atlantic empire. Buy links open the retailer in a new tab.
Possibilities
cover TBD
A Sea of Possibilities
University of Virginia Press, August 31, 2026
The gripping tale of how ambitious sea captain Thomas Allen and his family navigated the gales of the American Revolution. Starting as a rogue and smuggler, Allen won and lost several fortunes before establishing himself as a wealthy merchant with Loyalist leanings in Connecticut. Imprisoned by the Patriots, he lost nearly everything — yet stayed, rebuilt, and emerged an outspoken champion of the new Constitution and nation. A vivid portrait of a middling family scheming for wealth and respectability, showing that maritime life is as crucial to the Revolutionary era as any debate in the colonial legislatures.
Chasing Empire Across the Sea
Drawing from official correspondence, merchants' letters, ships' logs, and graphic archival material, Kenneth Banks explores the failure of transatlantic communications in helping to develop and maintain French imperialism during the height of France's first overseas empire in Quebec, New Orleans, and Saint Pierre, Martinique, in the eighteenth century.
Articles, Essays & Reviews
Selected recent writing. For the full record of publications, fellowships, and professional work, see the CV.
Curriculum Vitae
Selected highlights below. Download the full CV for the complete record.
Books
- 2026A Sea of Possibilities: The Revolutionary Atlantic World of Captain Thomas Allen. University of Virginia Press, The Revolutionary Age Series (forthcoming, August 2026).
- 2002Chasing Empire Across the Sea: Communications and the State in the French Atlantic, 1713–1763. McGill-Queen's University Press. — Winner, Heggoy Prize for Best Book in French Colonial History; finalist, Klibansky and Chinard Prizes.
Appointments
- 2023–Professor of History, Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC
- 2009–22Associate & Assistant Professor, Wofford College
- 2007–09Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada
Education
- 1996Ph.D., History, Queen's University, Canada
- 1990M.A., History, Queen's University, Canada
- 1983B.A., Communications, Concordia University, Canada
Recent Fellowships & Awards
- 2024NEH Long-Term Fellow, John Carter Brown Library
- 2019SCICU Excellence in Teaching Award
- 2016Hartland Fellowship in Maritime History, John Carter Brown Library
- 2018, '23Wofford College Summer Research Grants
- FieldsOceanic mobilities · the American Revolutionary Atlantic · early modern contraband
About Me
[First-person draft — Kenneth, this is your voice; edit freely or send me your own version.]
I'm a historian of the Atlantic world and an associate professor of history at Wofford College. My work follows ships, letters, maps, and the people aboard them across the eighteenth-century ocean — asking how empires tried, and often failed, to hold distant places together, and how ordinary families reinvented themselves amid war and revolution.
My first book, Chasing Empire Across the Sea, rethinks how communication shaped French colonial power. My new book, A Sea of Possibilities (University of Virginia Press, 2026), tells the story of sea captain Thomas Allen and his family navigating the American Revolution.
Beyond the archive, I love bringing history to general audiences — at bookstores, festivals, classrooms, and on podcasts. If that sounds like your event, I'd be glad to hear from you.
Talks & Events
Available for bookstore readings, author talks, panels, classroom visits, and podcast interviews. [Flexible section — Kenneth to decide what goes here.]
Upcoming & recent
- DateEvent / venue / city — add details or a ticket link
- PodcastInterview title — add embed or link (reserved for future)
Contact & Booking
Send a note through the form and it comes straight to my inbox — so I can review each inquiry personally.
Other ways to connect
Prefer to find me elsewhere? I keep a light presence on a few platforms.