Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #824791 in Books
• Published on: 1974-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Customer Reviews

Blackbeard, pirate and legend.
Over the years Edward Teach, more commonly known as Blackbeard, has become more legend than man. A process that I think would have pleased Teach very much for he was as much a showman as a pirate. That is a part of his character that is richly brought out in this book. Unfortunately, there is really little for Mr. Lee to work with since real hard evidence of Teach's activities is scarce. Pirates after all were criminals and weren't exactly known for keeping records of their thefts.

Lee I suppose did the best he could with the evidence he had to work with but this already short book would have been much better if it had been even shorter. The parts of the book that deal with Teach are excellent but there is far too much dead weight in this book. For example, some of the politics of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina have to be dealt with to understand why the Governor of Virginia invaded North Carolina to capture or kill Blackbeard. The author however, included much more of the era's politics than was necessary. This led to parts of the book being almost mind numbingly dull and the parts of the book dealing with the genealogy of some of the colonial first families were as tedious to read as almost anything I have seen. Being a lawyer, the author has also sprinkled his text with Latin legal terms with no explanation of their meaning. If I were to ever learn Latin that would not bother me I suppose but as I speak no Latin this practice annoys me no end.

Overall, the reader will get a fairly good feeling for Blackbeard and his times. Be warned however, parts of this book will bore you to tears. Instead of the politics and genealogy, a good chapter on the treasure hunters who have sought Blackbeard's probably non-existent buried loot would have been nice.

Decent, but not about the man
This book, while a bit dry in writing style, is a decent history. However, it is not a decent history of Blackbeard, himself. While the author makes some nice points about Blackbeard and the creation of his image, the main focus of the book is the political struggle that led up to the attack on the "retired" Blackbeard and the fallout from that action. If political intrigue between Virginia and North Carolina during this period is your interest you may enjoy this book. If you are looking for a history of Blackbeard, the man, look elsewhere.

A Proclamation for the Suppressing of Pyrates
"Have you heard of Teach the Rover, / And his Knavery on the Main; / How of Gold he was a Lover, / How he lov'd all ill got Gain."

His name is that of the world's most disreputable pirates. His final years in and around North Carolina and Virginia bring a certain romantic twist to the colonial history of New England.

Robert E. Lee's purpose in writing this book was to quell the exaggerated lore behind the captain. He does so gallantly, without making references to incorrect legends (which could serve to confuse the reader). His research and references are excellent and explained in the preface.

Lee commences from the beginning, and the introduction to Blackbeard suggests it was sea faring fate for the boy. Lee admits information on the young Edward Teach is in short supply, but his reasoning behind the liminal inspirations make sense: Bristol, Teach's hometown, was a maritime village. Popular 17th century publications blazoned a world of extravagant adventure, filling landlubbers' heads with images of buccaneers brandishing firearms and blades; these were not unlike the effects of modern naval histories upon today's readers.

The exciting piratical escapades are not delayed for long. Within the first chapter, Lee will already dive into a 1717 attack by Blackbeard and his mentor, Hornigold. The plunder was enormous, and to this day it has yet to be recovered. These are the tales we all love to hear and read about that evoke a trembling thrill deep within us. There's still treasure to be had!

As Blackbeard matures and grows in the deviant (but sometimes necessary) career, Lee finds less and less records to recount. His explanation: Teach came from a well-to-do family and would not keep records of his travels/attacks/plunders lest his ancestry is traced and his family's name tarnished. One of the most exciting chapters is, naturally, the conquest for Blackbeard's body.

The reader must take care to note the subtitle of the book: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times. In truth, Blackbeard does not fill the pages of this book; rather, the 250 pages depend on a textbook-like account of Virginia's and the Carolina's histories that were briefly defiled or abetted by Blackbeard's presence. There is a lot of politics to sift through and, while it reads like a legal thriller at times, the reader should not be fooled by the book's self-description as an "exciting swashbuckler." That said, the way Blackbeard's crew (especially his quartermaster) is brought to justice, or pardoned, is as twisted as any fiction.

Pirates are a brotherhood that seem curiously strange and most intriguing to pretty much anyone alive. Why did they do what they did? Why did Blackbeard become Blackbeard? In his preface, Robert E. Lee doesn't try to explicate these outlaws. Rather, he asks the reader to not "judge the historical figures of a past age by the moral standards of the present." Instead, the reader will see just how these men were judged when in their own element.

One very cool thing is the inclusion of a lengthy poem, "The Downfall of Piracy" (excerpted above, from Appendix A), believed to have been written by a 12 year old Benjamin Franklin.