Pirates in the Age of Sail

by Robert Antony

Pirates in the Age of Sail takes a global perspective to explore the world of pirates between the early sixteenth and middle nineteenth centuries. It examines the major events and personalities in the history of piracy. Antony has selected primacy sources that allow readers to examine pirates on their own terms and to reconstruct their daily lives and aspirations. Pirates in the Age of Sail also examines the role of pirates in the political, social, and economic transformations of the early modern world, with an emphasis on cultural and ethnic diversity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Pirates

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2006

Reviews

[Samantha Jungers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the books assigned for Dr. Burrow's History of Pirates, Outlaws, and Rebels at the University of South Dakota. Amazing class, by the way. So much fun.
Anyway, the book was well-written, had a good amount of background knowledge in the first section, a wide variety of interesting primary sources and illustrations in the second, and interesting and insightful interpretive essays in the last section. A good book for those interested in pirates, especially those who want to go beyond the romanticized versions widely available in "historical" fiction and feature films.

[Marissa Sobel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great overview of the history of pirates. They also included non-western pirates in their retelling, which I didn't know much about before reading. I'm glad the author included bibliography to further research the pirates and events discussed in the book.