The Pirate Menace: Uncovering the Golden Age of Piracy

by Angus Konstam

This new account explores the most notorious pirates in history and how their rise and fall can be traced back to a single pirate haven , Nassau .

Angus Konstam, one of the world's leading pirate experts, has brought his 30 years of research to create the definitive book on the short-lived Golden Age of Piracy. Following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), many of the privateers the British had used to prey on French and Spanish shipping turned to piracy leading to a major surge in attacks in the Caribbean and along North America's Atlantic seaboard. The fragile maritime economy of the Americas was threatened with collapse and, when major ports were threatened and trade brought to a standstill, the British government finally declared war on the pirates.

Most of the ships captured by pirates carried cargoes which were worthless unless they could be 'fenced'. As all legal ports were closed to them, the pirates took over Nassau on the Bahamian island of New Providence and turned it into their own pirate haven, where shady merchants were happy to buy their plunder. Some of the pirates based there ranged as far afield as Newfoundland, West Africa and the Indian Ocean, and Nassau became the hub of a pirate network that included some of the most notorious pirates in Blackbeard, “Calico Jack” Rackam, Charles Vane and Bartholomew Roberts.

The Pirate Menace draws on extensive research, as well as a wide range of first-hand accounts, to produce a new history of the heyday of historical piracy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Pirates

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 2024

About the author

Angus Konstam is a Scottish writer of popular history. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland and raised on the Orkney Islands, he has written more than a hundred books on maritime history, naval history, historical atlases, with a special focus on the history of piracy.

Reviews

[Jordy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vooral heel toegankelijk om te lezen. De schrijver speelt in op de fascinatie bij het bredere publiek voor piraten en adresseert duidelijk en met humor waar onze beelden over piraten niet helemaal kloppen.

De sterkte van dit boek, is dat het zowel chronologisch als thematisch is geschreven. De latere piraten komen ook later in het boek aan bod, wanneer Nassau als piratenparadijs verdwijnt onder Rogers. Konstam legt de nadruk op enkele piratentradities, zoals de gewoonte van piraten tot directe democratie aan boord van een schip. Hij heeft er duidelijk veel plezier in om dit soort rituelen aan boord van verschillende piratenschepen te reconstrueren, zeker wanneer een kapitein door zijn bemanning wordt afgezet. Het enthousiasme van de schrijver moedigt de lezer zeker aan om snel verder te lezen.

Voor iemand als ik, die nog niet veel wist over hoe het piratenleven er nou precies uit zag tijdens de beruchte gouden tijden, is het fijn dat er een auteur is die stapsgewijs uitlegt hoe de piratenplaag is ontstaan. De gegeven verklaringen zoals een strenge samenleving om aan te ontsnappen, de avontuursgeest en ouderwetse hebzucht klinken logisch.

Jammer dat er soms wat historische foutjes in het boek geslopen zijn. De grootste hiervan is de claim dat koningin Anne een dochter van stadhouder-koning Willem III zou zijn. Willem is kinderloos gestorven, wat de auteur zeker zou moeten weten. Deze misser laat de lezer soms toch wel twijfelen aan de kennis van de auteur, maar gelukkig zijn dit soort momenten zeer schaars.

Concluderend, zeker een aanrader voor eenieder die interesse heeft in de piraterij of gewoon in de mythe van de piraat in zijn algemeenheid. Je komt erachter dat er vrij weinig klopt van wat Hollywood heeft bedacht en dat, zoals de auteur aan het einde benadrukt, dat de echte piratenverhalen nog veel boeiender zijn.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a very strange thing about the history of pirates. Pirates are big business and they sell books. However, the lion's share of information on them has been pretty well covered already. This isn't to say there is nothing new out there to learn or uncover about them, but it usually follows that a new book on piracy is going to go over a good amount of well-trodden ground.

This brings us to Angus Konstam's The Pirate Menace. Konstam loves pirates or at least writing about them. He starts this book off by mentioning other books he's done on pirates and how this is another attempt to tell the story. His research and passion for the project are palpable. He has full control over the history and even adds in the apocryphal stuff (while identifying there is no evidence for them) just for fun. I feel like if I sat down with Konstam for drinks at the bar and let him spout off about pirates that he would have me riveted for hours.

Unfortunately, I think his passion for the subject also blunts the narrative. For example, multiple times, a pirate will be introduced mid-chapter only to have the same pirate as the focus of the next chapter. This happens a few times and it means there are multiple instances where time jumps around and the information feels repetitive. The flow is never quite there and it could probably only be fixed by deleting pirates out of the narrative or by going too broad on the subject.

Another aspect missing is the "menace" part of the title is missing. To be clear, Konstam tells the battle stories exquisitely. The final battles of Blackbeard and Black Bart are exceptional. However, if you are telling the full story of pirates then you need to make sure the reader understands these were not Robin Hood type rogues. They were murderers. They were rapists. They were bad people. Konstam doesn't cover up their misdeeds or excuse them, but I never felt like he made the reader face the fact that we are so often mesmerized by these sailor sociopaths.

I am giving this book 3 stars, but I don't feel great about it. If you are new to pirate stories, you will enjoy this and learn a ton. However, if you have read pirate literature, I don't think this is a must read.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Osprey Publishing.)

[Bebo Saucier Carrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this account of the Golden Age of Piracy! This account was very detailed and I learned so many cool things about specific pirates and about the practice of piracy through reading it. I also didn't find it to be too dense, which I do worry about with nonfiction accounts sometimes.

Would highly recommend to anyone doing historical research on piracy or just interested parties (like myself!) who are interested in learning more about piratical history.

Publication date: May 7, 2024

[Kristopher Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction and overview of the Golden Age. Falls apart a little at the end and could have had a little more discussion of the collapse, but still a worthwhile read.

[Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sheer amount of information in this book is absolutely phenomenal. It is not your common or garden pirate history book, this goes deep and the writing style is so engaging that hours pass before you even realise it

A lovely touch is that the beginning of the book primes you for the wonderful adventure through a little-known but extensive history that you are getting into and if you are a history lover, you will be absolutely captivated . If you are new to the stories and legends of piracy and privateers, the first sections will prove invaluable

I find a lot of times when you read a book by an expert, that they lose sight of communicating their knowledge with an audience without just reciting their knowledge. Angus Konstam gives the wealth of his extensive knowledge as if he is talking to a friend, engaging them in the adventure and sharing his love of the subject

I would recommend this phenomenal book to anybody who likes to go beyond the basics and has a fascination with Piracy around the world and through the ages. Very well written and very enjoyable

Thank you to Netgalley, Osprey Publishing, and the author, Angus Konstam for this wonderful ARC. My review is given voluntarily, and all opinions are my own

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this tale from the golden age of piracy, the British Empire and history’s most infamous pirates battle to control the Atlantic and Caribbean seas. After the War of the Spanish Succession, privateers-turned-pirates created a haven in the port of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, attracting merchants eager for their ill-gotten plunder. From this nexus, a vast criminal network emerged, giving rise to legends that still captivate us today.

This account is fascinating and fun to read. I found a factual inaccuracy early in the ARC that left me wondering how reliable the narrative is. (Hopefully, that inaccuracy was corrected in the published version.) The book was repetitive at times and didn’t follow a strict chronological order, focusing instead on telling a good story. This book wouldn’t be my choice if scholarship were my goal, but it’s entertaining and informative for a lay audience.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Robby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, is a (mostly) chronological history of famous pirates/privateer who got their start in the Caribbean from the period of 1650-1721, with most of the book being about the period of 1715-1721. Through the stories of these famous men a general history of this period is also told. Can get repetitive at times, with information told in previous chapters being repeated in later ones (I assume the reason for this was so those skipping around would not be lost, but it is still a tad annoying).

(I don't know enough about this subject to say how accurate this book is, but it does talk about the concept of 'pirate democracy' as being standard on ships (but not in pirate controlled ports) which I'm not sure how much historical evidence for this there are.) (Another not that important but weird note is that all the dates in here are 10 days off, cause the British at this time still used the Julian Calendar at the time this book is set.)

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Angus Konstam, Osprey Publishing and NetGalley for access to the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a detailed and comprehensive review of piracy in the Caribbean, the Atlantic coast of North America and South America, with a bit of Europe and Africa included for completeness. Mr. Konstam does an excellent job describing the origins of the Golden Age of Piracy and the steps taken to snuff out the problem. The book also includes extensive references and a bibliography.

For those of us who remember the names of Blackbeard, Black Bart, and others, this is an excellent book to take you through what really happened.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An informative novel about the pirates and their experiences in the Carribean. The stories are well-done and full of detail to help the reader understand why people resorted to piracy. There were good firsthand accounts, and the book was a fast read. Overall, a well-done and informative book.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book a better rating but I couldn't over look the fact that Konstam mistakenly called Queen Anne the daughter of King William III when she was his sister-in-law. I think it would have been interesting to find out more about Black Ceasar and the other slaves who became pirates too.

[Lisa Grønsund]

I received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.

RTC

[Reda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the historical representation of the fascinating topic that is piracy.