Product Description

Pirates Of The Far East

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350433 in Books
• Brand: Osprey Publishing Limited
• Published on: 2007-11-20
• Released on: 2007-11-20
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Review
"Turnbull takes readers on a journey through the centuries of the Asian pirate. Using a variety of photographs, maps and color plats illustrated by Richard Hook, readers are immersed into the exciting, yet dangerous life of the pirate. Weapons, armor and tactics are described in great detail, yet remain easy to read." -Timothy Baghurst (April 2008)

"Author Stephen Turnbaull takes a look at the start of piracy in the area and concentrates on some of the more successful raids and pirate leaders... All of this is enhanced by period accounts and artwork... This book combines two favorite subjects - piracy and medieval Japan - into one superb volume that you won't want to miss." -Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (December 2007)

About the Author

Stephen Turnbull is recognized as one of the world's foremost military historians of the medieval and early modern periods. He first rose to prominence as a result of his 1977 book, The Samurai: A Military History. Since then he has achieved equal fame in writing about European military subjects and has published over 50 books. He always tries to concentrate on the less familiar areas of military history, in particular such topics as Korea, Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and the Teutonic Knights. The author lives in Leeds, UK.

Customer Reviews

Very good, but a little thin.
In other books the author has mentioned the piratical activities of the Wako, or Japanese pirates. This book is a good expansion on those mentions, and a good summary of wako activities. Illustrations are good. I feel, however, that the format of the book limited the information to be had. I would have liked to see more on the Portuguese pirates that joined the late-era Wako, for example, as well as more detail on the campaigns and life-styles of the pirates. The title, incidentally, is misleading, implying that the Chinese and Malay pirates, who were long-standing menaces to the Far East, would also be included. All in all, a good book, but not enough pages. This could be the basis for a larger, much better book.

Warfare and Water
I never knew there were pirates of this nature. Brutal and bold. I loved this book and will reread.

Medieval Oriental Pirates
I remember when I first saw this title advertized earlier this year. 'Pirate of the Far East 811-1639? What the heck?' This had to be the most obscure title yet published by Osprey! Nonetheless, as a fan of both Samurai Warfare and Stephen Turnbull, I went ahead and bought it. I was not disappointed.

To sum it up, Turnbull examines 800 years of raids on the civilizations of China, Korea, and of course Japan by bands of cutthroats, mercenaries, lordless Samurai, and plain scum, and the wars of revenge fought against them both on land and at sea. These fierce and unruly warriors, known for their cruelty and complete lack of respect for any ruler or religion, had the ragtag appearance one would expect, but many managed to acquire Samurai weaponry and armor. In fact, one of their greatest leaders, the 'pirate-king' Murakami Takeyoshi, was of an illustrious Samurai clan.

Turnbull opens his book with a summary of the history of these fearsome seamen, and goes on to describe their culture and outline their history. He then examines their physical appearance, clothing, armor, weapons, and ships, and then looks at their daily life, chain of command, and the various types of raid they made. Then he examines their tactics and the battle experience of individual pirates. He closes the title with sections on museums, sites, and further reading. As with another recent warrior title, the plates and plate commentary are spread out throughout the book, rather than being grouped together at the center and back.

Overall, despite their exotic location and appearance, these pirates were just that-typical pirates whose lifestyle and tactics were not overly different from the contemporary Vikings and European mercenary bands, and the classical buccaneer and Caribbean-type pirates still to come. As he already has with the warrior-monks, ashigaru, and ninja, Turnbull does these hard-fighting and murderous raiders a service by revealing to the modern English-speaking world just how vital a role they played in the the politics and wars of contemporary China, Japan, and Korea, and does so in a manner than is exciting and readable, and leaves the reader stunned at the chilling cruelty of these pitiless mercenaries.