Blackbeard: The Real Pirate of the Caribbean

by Dan Parry

Blackbeard's extraordinary life of excess during the Golden Age of Piracy ignited a reputation that struck terror into men's hearts from Virginia to Barbados. Leading a flotilla of ships through the clear waters of the Indies, he left in his wake the image of a "ranting, roaring, swaggering, swearing" sea captain that is still remembered today. Blackbeard's life on the high seas, chasing wealth, freedom, and power, ended in a bloody battle that ultimately marked a turning point in history. This book accompanies a multimillion-dollar BBC-National Geographic drama that explores the reality of the man behind the beard. Far from the caricature of films and novels, Blackbeard was a complex character who was as charming as he was ruthless. The atrocities he indulged in, and how they eventually proved to be his undoing, are here explored through a fresh appraisal of surviving contemporary documents. Today, we might associate pirates with peg-legs, parrots and dreamy tropical islands, but the disturbing truth is the stuff of nightmares.

Genres: Pirates, History, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Dan Parry has worked for the BAFTA award-winning documentary team at TWI on their acclaimed "The British Empire in Colour" and has worked as script researcher on the BBC2 series "Journeys to the Bottom of the Sea." In mid-2002, Parry began researching D-Day story-lines for Dangerous Films, joining Dangerous on a full-time basis in May 2003.

Reviews

[Terry Cornell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. Very similar to another book on Blackbeard I read earlier this year by Angus Konstam. it covers the basic history of what is known of Blackbeard, and the rest of the book is about pirates of that time period in general. What differs is this book is a companion to a BBC television program on Blackbeard, and includes more art work, as well as photos of artifacts. The book concludes with recovery work on what may be Blackbeard's ship 'Queen Anne's Revenge', off the coast of North Carolina. A very small portion covers the filming of the television show, and some stills from the production are included in the book.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is connected to a made for TV movie about Blackbeard. Personally, I think it was more like a children's book. A lot of photos from the movie and tons of info about pirates in general. Of the text in the book, only about half of it is about Blackbeard. And honestly, about half the book is pictures. I would guess there is better books about Blackbeard out there. I would suggest you try a different one.

[Nancy G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book included a lot of great facts and illustrations in a small package. It was short, but filled with information.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your previous knowledge of the savagely humble and simpleminded folk we know as pirates will be squelched after you finish reading this straightforward account of the not-so humble and simpleminded pirate, Blackbeard.

The author doesn't stop there: he goes on to describe and put in context other pirates and women pirates (dressed in drag, of course--he gives the obvious reason for their having gone to this length, which will confront the reader with contrary thinking when they think of the Elizabeth Swans of the pirate world), which include Samuel Bellamy, Anne Bonne, Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd, Henry Avery, and Mary Reade, just to name but a few.

But the star of this chronicle is Blackbeard, the craziest bloke commanding the high seas during the Golden Age of Piracy.

I love the chart of different Jolly Rogers (or if you like the French, Jolie Rouge) and the analysis of pirates in the movies (sometimes the older films didn't get it quite right, but that's to be expected, what with having to appeal to the masses and uphold the great tradition of Hollywoodizing everything).

[Samuel Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that it's a book to a movie about the historical Blackbeard, it's very well done. In some ways there's not enough info on Blackbeard for a whole book, but that is in itself the nature of the subject involved. But with the illustrations, callout pages, historical info, and the photos from the movie, it rounded out the subject well.

[Holland 2010]

Here is a summary of Blackbeard. Blackbeard was the most feared pirate of all time. He was finally conquered by the the govenments of South Carolina and Virginia. People were scared of him because he was ruthless, cruel, and greedy.

Mrs. Holland

[Martyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The x-ray on the cover suggests that this will be a forensic examination of Blackbeard's life, unfortunately this is not the case. Of the 192 pages in this book at least half are given over to color pictures and of the remaining 96 I would estimate that only approximately 35-40 even touch on Blackbeard. The answer for this is simple - we don't know enough about him to fill a book. This book is designed as a companion to the BBC documentary of the same title, and while it is of interest, containing much general historical information about the period, it is still a cash grab.

The x-ray by the way, and the crossed cutlasses at each chapter heading, are modeled on the black flag of Calico Jack Rackham, not Blackbeard. Those who have read the book wont be surprised that even in these elements Blackbeard seems not to be represented.