The Republic of Pirates

A rollicking, gangplank-swaying read of a book . . . This scrupulously researched book strikes a balance of human interest, romance, drama, war, and historical fact all key ingredients for an excellent read.

Préface
The book that inspired Crossbones, the NBC television series written and produced by Neil Cross and starring John Malkovich

Auteur
Colin Woodard, an award-winning author and journalist, is State & National Affairs Writer for The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, and a longtime correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has appeared in The Economist, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Smithsonian, Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Bloomberg View, Washington Monthly and dozens of other national and international publications. A native of Maine, he has reported from more than fifty foreign countries and six continents, and lived for more than four years in Eastern Europe during and after the collapse of communism. His investigative reporting for the Telegram won a 2012 George Polk Award. His most recent book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, was named a Best Book of 2011 by the editors of The New Republic and the Globalist and won the 2012 Maine Literary Award for Non-Fiction. A graduate of Tufts University and the University of Chicago, he lives in Midcoast Maine.

Texte du rabat

The book that inspired Crossbones, the NBC television series written and produced by Neil Cross and starring John Malkovich

Résumé

For fans of The Lost Kingdom, Black Sails and Crossbones comes a new rip-roaring history of the Golden Age of Piracy. . .

In the early eighteenth century a number of the great pirate captains, including Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach and 'Black Sam' Bellamy, joined forces. This infamous 'Flying Gang' was more than simply a thieving band of brothers. Many of its members had come to piracy as a revolt against conditions in the merchant fleet and in the cities and plantations in the Old and New Worlds. Inspired by notions of self-government, they established a crude but distinctive form of democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which indentured servants were released and leaders chosen or deposed by a vote. They were ultimately overcome by their archnemesis, Captain Woodes Rogers - a merchant fleet owner and former privateer - and the brief but glorious Republic of Pirates came to an end.

Meticulously researched and full of incident and adventure, The Republic of Pirates brings to life an extraordinary forgotten chapter of history.

'Fascinating... beyond rip-roaring adventure stories from the distant past, [the book offers] an opportunity to understand pirates as they truly were--and to be grateful that the worst of them, at least, are gone' New York Times Book Review