Los barcos y sus banderas, lo que se comía y bebía a bordo -con un interés especial por el papel que desempeñaba el ron-, el código de disciplina interna de las tripulaciones, los recursos de medicina y cirugía en alta mar, los puertos de refugio y la vida que se hacía en ellos, las razones que podían llevar a un hombre a la piratería, el ritual de las ejecuciones... Todo, hasta la afición a los loros, lo encontramos en este repertorio de curiosidades y noticias que nos ofrecen la imagen de una realidad más extraordinaria que la ficción.
Un fascinante mosaico compuesto de extractos de biografías, de cartas, de fragmentos de procesos judiciales, de los recuerdos de sus víctimas y de las noticias y chismes publicados en su tiempo.
El libro combina la explicación de los diversos aspectos de la vida de un pirata con la exposición de pequeñas biografías de los más famosos piratas y pequeñas historias para ejemplificar la vida que llevaban.
Bastante interesante, el problema es que le falta contextualización. Por ejemplo, nunca se acaba de explicar el porqué del aumento de la piratería entre 1705 y 1725.
Bueno pues que vida... El libro resume muy bien lo básico en la vida de un pirata común y cuenta varias historias sobre ellos que se consiguieron por relatos y juicios.
This book was a birthday present a while ago from a university friend who knew I liked pirates, but I never got round to reading it till recently. I enjoyed it, and I think that if you are interested in finding out more about piratical history then this is an excellent introduction to it.
The writing from the author is clear and easy to understand, though because there are a lot of historical accounts within the book then it can be difficult to read in places, simply because of the older style of language used.
The book contains accounts of the lives of many of the most famous pirates, including "Black Bart" Roberts and Edward Teach (Blackbeard), and many explanations of various aspects of how life on a pirate ship could be amongst other things.
All in all, if you want to find out more about pirates, this is a good place to start, though I doubt it will be of much interest to those who are already familiar with that period of history, as it may be too general and concise in order to tell you things you don't already know.
This is a great book for history buffs or just anyone who has an interest in the truth behind the piratical myths. Well researched and interesting, it uses primary sources to describe, not just the lifestyle of pirates, but the historical context that gave rise to them, and the lives of a few of the better known pirates of the day, including Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Black Bart.
As interesting as it is, the text can be a bit impenetrable. It takes the form of long quotes from the primary sources (newspaper accounts, journals, etc) interspersed with bits of commentary from the author. Predictably, the language in the quotes reflects the density of the day.
A good overview of the history of pirates. The editor makes comments on writings taken from actual accounts and experiences at the time. He also describes aspects of the typical pirates lifestyle.
I really enjoyed this book. It contains a lot of information related to pirates on XVII-XVIII centuries: biographies, how this persons lived on sea or real documents about their crimes and executions.