Pirates and Privateers in the 18th Century: The Final Flourish
Nobody speaks of the Golden Age of Slavery or of Witch Hunting or Heretic Burning, but the equally unpleasant practice of piracy and its close cousin privateering has its Golden Age, celebrated in literature and film. One of the chapters in Pirates and Privateers explores this paradox and the romantic legend of the pirates as anti-establishment heroes.
The book is principally a set of short biographies of the better-known sea raiders of the 17th and 18th centuries. Despite its title, it begins with Captain Morgan in the 1650s. As research material the best part is the earlier chapters on pirate-related topics, such as Codes of Conduct, plunder and punishment.
