This book provides an insight to the cultural work involved in violence at sea in this period of maritime history. It is the first to consider how 'piracy' and representations of 'pirates' both shape and were shaped by political, social and religious debates, showing how attitudes to 'piracy' and violence at sea were debated between 1550 and 1650.

'Pirates? The Politics of Plunder is a first-rate collection of essays on a perennially interesting topic. Drawing on a wide variety of source materials, the contributors explore how piracy was legally defined and culturally interpreted in the early modern period. Striking for its geographical and generic reach, the book explores texts as different as Portuguese epic, English drama, and narratives of North African Muslims enslaved by Christians. Fresh scholarship and lively writing make Pirates? The Politics of Plunder both an outstanding contribution to current scholarship and a pleasure to read.' - Professor Jean E. Howard, Columbia University, USA

'...this collection of essays not only cogently draws together some outstanding samples of current work on piracy and its representations during the early modern period but also offers a rich vein of new ideas and approaches for further research on this culturally eclectic and highly stimulating topic.' - Michael G. Brennan, Notes and Queries

'...the collection is exemplary for a productive dialogue between literary, historical and cultural approaches, all aiming to locate the questionable figure of the pirate and all based on careful tracing of its textual evidence.' - Tobias Döring, Journal for the Study of British Cultures

'This compact but wide-ranging collection of essays on early modern piracy in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean should appeal to students of history, literature andinternational law...this collection represents the vanguard of piracy studies.' - Kris Lane, The Mariner's Mirror

Autorentext
JOHN APPLEBY Senior Lecturer in History, Liverpool Hope University College, UK MATTHEW DIMMOCK Lecturer in English, University of Sussex, UK CHRISTOPHER HARDING Professor of Law, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK MARK HUTCHINGS Lecturer in English, University of Reading, UK BERNHARD KLEIN Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Essex, UK GERALD MACLEAN Professor of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA NABIL MATAR Professor of English and Department Head of Humanities and Communication, Florida Institute of Technology, USA LUCY MUNRO Lecturer in English, Keele University, UK MARK NETZLOFF Associate Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

Inhalt
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors PART I: PIRACY? SOME DEFINITIONS Introduction: Pirates? The Politics of Plunder, 1550-1650; C.Jowitt 'Hostis Humani Generis' - The Pirate as Outlaw in the Early Modern Law of the Sea; C.Harding PART II: PERSPECTIVES ON PIRACY The Problem of Piracy in Ireland, 1570-1630; J.Appleby Piracy and Captivity in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Perspective from Barbary; N.Matar Crusading Piracy? The Curious Case of the Spanish in the Chanel, 1590-95; M.Dimmock Acting Pirates: Converting A Christian Turned Turk ; M.Hutchings 'We are not Pirates': Piracy and Navigation in The Lusiads ; B.Klein Virolet and Martia in the Pirate's Daughter: Gender and Genre in Fletcher and Massinger's The Double Marriage ; L.Munro PART III: PIRATE AFTERLIVES Sir Francis Drake's Ghost: Piracy, Cultural Memory, and Spectral Nationhood; M.Netzloff Scaffold Performances: The Politics of Pirate Death; C.Jowitt Of Pirates, Slaves and Diplomats: Anglo-American Writing about the Maghrib in the Age of Empire; G.MacLean Select Bibliography Index