Product Description

A global overview of pirates documents the real world of these seafaring terrors, their violent lives of robbery and murder, and the exploits of famous pirates.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1427994 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From School Library Journal
YA. A comprehensive study of piracy from the 1600s to the 1900s. Each chapter is written by a different expert and covers one aspect of the topic, including piracy in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and, unlike most books on the subject, the pirates of the Far East. A chapter also is devoted to modern pirates and the steps the international community is taking to eliminate them. The book contains many pictures of artifacts, 16th- and 17th-century illustrations, color paintings by noted artists Howard Pyle and Frank Schoonover, and period photographs of pirates and anti-piracy operations from the past 140 years. The text is well written and easy to follow. An ideal companion to Cordingly's Under the Black Flag (Random, 1996).?Robert Burnham, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This worldwide overview of piracy discusses incidents from the earliest days of sea travel to modern times. Julius Caesar was among a group held for ransom by pirates in 78 B.C., and in the Philippines from 1983 to 1994, attacks by pirates armed with automatic rifles averaged nine per month. Accompanying the text are photographs of weapons used, maps of major harbors, and paintings of famous pirates and their ships. Large-scale, detailed drawings of pirate ships include Captain Kidd's vessel from 1695. Although young men generally sought fortune and fame as pirates, a few women also made this choice. Two of the most notorious were Mary Read and Anne Bonny, captured together in 1720 off the coast of Jamaica. They were jailed but not hung (common punishment for Western pirates), because both proved to be pregnant. This book's 11 chapters by notable maritime historians contain 300 full-color illustrations and a lengthy bibliography, all of which supplement the six-part TBS documentary, Pirate Tales, to be broadcast in February. Jennifer Henderson

Customer Reviews

Great Coffee-Table Book
This is an excellent coffee-table introduction to pirates, well worth the $29.95 for those interested in the subject. The book's chapters are written by different authors, who generally keep the prose crisp and readable, although there are occasional "dry" areas. The chapters are: The Lure of Spanish Gold, Brethren of the Coast, Buccaneer Explorers, Corsairs of the Mediterranean, The Golden Age of Piracy, Libertalia: The Pirate's Utopia, The Pirate Round, French and American Privateers, The Eastern Seas, Chinese Pirates, and Piracy Today. What really makes the book worthwhile is the excellent collection of illustrations and artifacts that accompany the text. Of special noteworthyness is the photo on page 9 of some beheaded pirates. The book is very well designed, and very conducive to leisurely reading, bit by bit. Some of the information is repeated across chapters, which is prone to happen when there are different contributors (although the editors should still have excised the repetitive parts). The chapter "Corsairs of the Mediterranean" was probably the most engaging for me, both in terms of the writing, and the vast amount of interesting history presented. I felt two chapters that could have been really interesting, but unfortunately failed to be were "The Eastern Seas," and "Chinese Pirates." I would definitely recommend this book as a beginning text to anyone with an interest in pirates.

An excellent introduction to the study of piracy
"Pirates" is a very well documented book on the history of pirates throughout the ages, from Ancient Greece to the present. Each chapter is written by a specialist in each theme, which makes the reading amusing because of some different points of view of the authors about the same aspects of piracy. No other book on piracy unites so many highly qualified historians on this theme. The reader will be amazed with the pictures, drawings and maps, a remarkable aspect of the book, which makes this full - color edition unique. I have not found such a good and complete pictography on pirates elsewhere. The book includes innovating chapters with new information, such as the last one, entitled "Piracy Today". Since this theme has not been covered by many authors, the chapter constitutes an excellent reference for people interested in doing further investigation. Even though, "Pirates" does not constitute a complete work on piracy, it can best be defined as a glance at sea banditry in different places and times. All the chapters captured me but left me with a sense of "wanting more", which has encouraged me to search for more books on every aspect of Pirate History. Pirates is an excellent book as an introduction to the study of piracy.

Fascinating book with lots of pictures!
This large and attractive book gives the history of pirates from the 1600s to today. Organized primarily chronologically, but also by region, the book traces the history of piracy from pirates sailing the Spanish Main, through the Barbary Corsairs, French and American pirates, Chinese pirates of the nineteenth century, and pirates around the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating book. Plus, what makes the book even nicer is that it is chock-full of large and interesting pictures. Is this a coffee-table book? I suppose so, but it is an excellent history book, sure to please anyone interested in learning more about pirates and piracy. I give this book my highest recommendations!