The Pirates

by Matthew West

The thirty-year Golden Age of Piracy stretched into the early eighteenth century. During that time, as this vividly written book by historian Matthew West shows, poverty and oppression prompted many men - and even a few women - to sea in search of treasure, adventure, and sometimes, revenge. The treasure taken in a single trip could net a captain many times the profit an average sailor might expect to gain over a lifetime. The Pirates provides an exciting glimpse into the characters, crimes, and legends created by the buccaneers.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Pirates, Audiobook, Nautical, Historical

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 5, 2015

Reviews

[Bob Haven]

After enjoying some fictional pirates in Tony Vigorito's "Love and Other Pranks", I wanted to learn a little about real pirates (of the Golden Age of Pirates around 1700) and this book was just what I wanted. It provided just the amount of information I was seeking -- not too long and not too detailed, yet plenty of interesting info. Sometimes gruesome, it's an entertaining and educational read!

[Nick H.]

I would recommend this book for someone without much prior knowledge on the subject of Pirates, looking for a general overview. West sticks mostly to the facts in this short read and provides a pretty solid general overview of pirate history. Doesn't dive too deep into any one particular event of subject so don't expect that from this book.

[Stefanie]

This juvenile and poorly-written book reads like a book report from a sixth grader on Daniel Defoe's book on pirates. West constantly references Defoe's work while failing to cite any other research. I'm pretty sure the movies are more historically accurate, supernatural creatures and all. This was laughably bad.

[Brian]

Neat snippets

This book had some neat stories and an overview of the golden age of piracy. It’s relatively short and moves along. It doesn’t
Go too intensely into any one area of the subject. If you are interested in a high level book, this is a decent choice.

[Kevin Harber]

I didn’t think it possible to write a dull book on pirates, but this author succeeded. Also, it over-relies on a single source, contains factual errors, and largely consists of a pastiche of passages cribbed from the works of other writers. Recommend a hard pass.

[Gary W. Arnal]

Concise history of piratecy from late 17 to early 18th Century

Easy to read and understand some of the key pirates and their theater of operations during the "golden" year of piratecy.

[Molly]

absolutely outstanding

[ricky dodds]

A great place to stsrt

If you're interested in learning more about pirates this is a great place to start. It doesn't go into great detail but it's a perfect overview.

[Phila]

I listened to this book (audio file) and It was very informative and interesting.

[Eliza]

Interesting read, bit hard to follow the writing is rather stunted

[Karmen]

Nooke dition $

[Daniel]

Book Review

This book was educational and passed the time. It made for easy, but interesting reading. I was very pleased with the book.

[Daniel Hatcher]

Pirate

I like all books about pirates.This is very interesting book a very quick read And told me a lot about the different areas of operations that the Pirates Operated in.

[Jack]

Audible Audiobook

[Tara Warner]

3.5

This was a good fast pace read. I learned a lot about pirates that I didn't know about before. I also learned more about Black Beard that I also didn't know before.

[Matt]

This was a very interesting read about pirates from the 1600s to 1700s. It was a short read and very descriptive of the condition on the boats and the people that "worked" as pirates.

[Steve Pease]

Good read and a good book to learn about the real pirates. Most people know of pirates from the movies, most of them were not real people. This book tells about real people and things they did.