Für einige seiner Veröffentlichungen erhielt er Auszeichnungen und Preise:
Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, 2007 den John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; den L. Byrne Waterman Award des New Bedford Whaling Museums; Silber-Medaille in den 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards.
Fur, Fortune, and Empire, 2011 den James P. Hanlan Book Award der New England Historical Association; Bronze-Medaille bei den Independent Publisher Book Awards desselben Jahres für dasselbe Buch; erster Preis von der Outdoor Writers Association of America im Excellence in Craft Contest.
When America First Met China, Top-100 Sachbuch von 2012 bei Kirkus Reviews; Gold-Medaille für Geschichte bei den 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards
Dolin erhielt Stipendien bei folgenden Institutionen:
1982–1983: C. V. Starr Fellow der Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
1989–1990 und 1990–1991: Switzer Environmental Fellowship.
1990–1991: Martin Environmental Fellowship, des Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge Massachusetts, USA.
1989: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Know you Government), Chelsea House Publishers, ISBN 0-7910-0878-9.
1990: Dirty Water, Clean Water: A Chronology of Events Surrounding the Degredation and Cleanup of Boston Harbor, MIT Sea Grant College Program, ISBN 1-56172-001-1.
1992: mit Lawrence E. Susskind und J. William Breslin: International Environmental Treaty Making. Reihe: Program on Negotiation Books, Harvard Law School, ISBN 1-880711-02-8.
2000: mit Bob Dumaine: The Duck-Stamp Story: Art-Conservation-History. Krause Publications, ISBN 0-87341-815-8.
2003: Smithsonian Book of Wildlife Refuges, mit Illustrationen von John und Karen Holingsworth. Smithsonian Books, Washington D.C., USA, ISBN 1-58834-117-8.
2003: Snakehead: A Fish Out of Water. Smithsonian Books, Washington D.C., USA und London, ISBN 1-58834-154-2.
2004: Political Waters: The Long, Dirty, Contentious, Incredibly Expensive but Eventually Triumphant History of Bostan Harbor - A Unique Environmental Success Story. University of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 1-55849-445-6.
2007: Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. W. W. Norton, New York City, USA, ISBN 978-0-393-33157-8.
2010: Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America. W. W. Norton, New York City, USA, ISBN 978-0-393-06710-1.
2012: When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail. Liveright Publishing Corporation, ISBN 978-0-87140-433-6.
2016: Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse. Liveright, ISBN 978-1-63149-250-1.
2018: Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates. Liveright, ISBN 978-1-63149-210-5.
2020: A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes. Liveright, ISBN 978-1631495274.
2022: Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. Liveright, ISBN 978-1631498251.
2024: Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. Liveright, ISBN 978-1324093084.