Elizabeth Griffith is a master storyteller who makes the past come alive. With rigorous research, beautiful slides, drama, and humor, she brings meaning and resonance to the destinations and waters of a ship’s itinerary, providing unforgettable memories for cruisers. A veteran cruise ship speaker with a doctorate from Georgetown, she has worked at Monticello, the Phillips Collection, National Public Radio, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, taught at Georgetown University, and lectured at the Smithsonian.

Cruisers love humor, drama, and nuggets of information to take home and remember from their trip. Some gravitate to art, some to business: I use both. All this is what I try to give audiences, with original research, painstakingly crafted slides, and compelling delivery.

TALKS THAT WORK FOR MULTIPLE REGIONS

The Medici Bank: Its Rise and Fall
Follow the banking powerhouse from Florence to its branches in Rome, Venice, Naples, and beyond.

The Northern Renaissance in Money and Art
Explore the economic flowering of the North through the sublime art of its masters.

The "Shetland Bus": Heroic Fishermen in World War II
Marvel to the story of how ordinary Norwegians and Shetlanders worked with the British Royal Navy against the Nazis.

The Portuguese Empire
See how the Portuguese spanned oceans, from Japan to Brazil, and the Azores to Goa.

Britain's Royal Navy and the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Hear how the Royal Navy seized 1,600 slave ships, freeing 150,000 enslaved people, after 1807.

The Catalan Atlas: Masterpiece of Medieval Mapmaking
Thrill to this picture of Medieval detail by the brilliant Jewish cartographer Cresques Abraham.

The Art of the Midnight Sun
Revel in how the crazy-making midnight sun inspires arctic artists.

THE ADRIATIC

The History of Venice: From the Byzantines to Napoleon
Trace the eleven-century arc of the Venetian Empire from lowly refugee origins to decadent decline.

Pirates of the Adriatic: Narentines and Uskoks, Osmin and Ulcinj
Dig into the experience of Adriatic pirates, hidden in the planet's most indented stretch of coast.

Contested Coastline: A Brief History of the Western Adriatic
Explore the Croatian coast from Romans to Hungarians, Venetians to Pirates, Ottomans to Communists.

The Venetian Arsenal: The World's First and Factory
Discover how hundreds of Venetians worked one site centuries before the industrial revolution.

The Venetian Sea Empire: From the Croatian Coast to Cyprus
Learn how Venetians kept their sea empire: naval skill, governing efficiency, political audacity.

Venice in Stone: Lions, Angels, Swords, Books, and More
See how carvings in Venice displayed its virtues: independence, justice, wisdom, and wealth.

THE BALTIC AND NORWAY

The Hanseatic League
Learn how this Medieval confederation grew from a handful of towns to nearly 200 settlements.

Bankers of the North: The Houses of Fugger and Welser
Hear what made these banking houses wealthy, from Germany to the Baltic to South America.

Pirates Took It to Gdansk: Travels of a Medici Revenge Painting
Thrill to this story of hubris, humiliation, and artistic immortality, from Florence to Gdansk.

A 1555 Best-Seller: “History of the People of the North”
Be amazed by illustrated tales of Scandinavian child-rearing, warfare, fishing, trade, and sports.

Winter Throne: Norway's Royal Couples in Two World Wars
Hear how the first couple helped their country become a useful, unique ally - in two World Wars.

The Danish Golden Age
Learn how fire and bankruptcy led to the heights of Danish art and culture (including fairy tales).

Dirhams for Slaves
Learn how archaeologists have linked Baltic hoards of Islamic coins to a Medieval trade in people.

THE BRITISH ISLES

Shakespeare and Money
Hear Elizabethan economic tension reflected in the Bard's characters - and his own life.

Will the Real St Patrick Please Stand Up?
Learn how the facts of his life are even more interesting - and inspiring - than the legend.

The Viking Imprint on the British Isles
Learn, from the latest archaeological and DNA evidence, how Vikings transformed the British Isles.

The Orkney Islands in Two World Wars
Learn how the Orkney Islands punched above their weight in two World Wars.

Wales at War: Holyhead in Two World Wars
From "railroad ships" to hosting the Dutch Navy, Holyhead played an outsized role in two World Wars.

"Over There": Yanks in Portsmouth and Falmouth during World War I
See how Portsmouth became a "Little America", while Falmouth was shaken with "Spymania."

FRANCE AND SPAIN (ATLANTIC COASTS)

Piracy, Trade, and Religion: from Biscay to the New World.
Learn how Huguenots went from being religious refugees to commercial giants in the Colonial era.

The Many Faces of Saint Malo.
Explore the history of the walled city from Roman garrison to site of “All the Light We Cannot See.”

The Rebel Painters of Honfleur.
Revel in the paintings of Honfleur, where beach scenes and seascapes led to French impressionism.

The Brothers Lafitte, Pirates of Bordeaux.
Follow the amazing Lafittes as they went from New Orleans pirates to allies of Andrew Jackson.

Churning out Ships in the Spanish Golden Age.
Be amazed at the transformation of tiny Ferrol into the great Spanish shipbuilder for the new world.

MEDITERRANEAN COASTS AND COUNTRIES

The Merchant Maritime Republics
Learn how these medieval city-states, from the Crusading era, built trading networks, even empires.

Three Renaissance Women: In Their Own Words
Get to know a mother, a nun, and a courtesan through their own letters and writings.

Barcelona - Not Quite as Spanish as You Think
Delve into Catalan history and culture, from its medieval power to its fanciful architecture.

Naples, Pompeii, and Herculaneum
Hear the story of the gritty, gorgeous "city of the sun,” with its wide bay and glowering volcano.

Barbary Coast Pirates and French Galleys
Meet kings, saints, pirates and galley slaves in the struggle between French Kings and corsairs.

Secret of Málaga: The Story of Spain in the American Revolution
Learn of the outsized efforts to help Americans win independence from Spain's hated rivals.

The Movie Casablanca and the History That Inspired It
Uncover the wartime stories of courage and survival shown in one of the greatest movies ever made.

ICELAND

Will Iceland Be the New Singapore?
Discover how changing climate will make a navigable Arctic by 2050, and what that means for Iceland.

Barbary Pirates in Iceland
Learn how renegade Barbary pirates raided Iceland in 1627, and the return story of the captives.

Iceland’s 1806 "Dog Day King" Jørgen
Hear how Jørgen Jørgensen - "Human Comet," English Dane, adventurer - ruled Iceland for two months.

Backroads, June 2013. PowerPoint talk “The History of Southern Dalmatia” for all-ages trip to Croatia.
Smithsonian, June 2008. PowerPoint talk “The History of the Venetian Empire” for all-ages trip to the Greek islands.
Smithsonian Institution, March 2006. PowerPoint talk “Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons on Leadership."
Smithsonian Institution, August 2004. PowerPoint talk “The Venetian Arsenal” as part of series “Splendors of Venice.”

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.