Pirates: Culture and Style from the 15th Century to the Present

by Matteo Guarnaccia

Whether reviled as criminals or upheld as symbols of ultimate freedom, it can't be denied that the figure of the pirate has had an unmistakable impact on everything from modern fashion and literature to art and classic cinema. Pirates is a map to the scenic world of the buccaneer, looking back to classical artwork, maps, and advertising to reveal how these iconic figures make their presence known today. It shows how style idols like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones incorporated the pirate's sense of romanticism and danger into their famous looks, as well as how the flair of the pirating lifestyle has been represented in contemporary fashion, vintage advertising and art, cartoons, costume design, and numerous golden age films and musicals. With a broad array of culturally diverse pirates both fictional and real represented, Pirates visually demonstrates the roguish allure that has been captivating artists, designers, and fashionistas for centuries.

295 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2016

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mom ordered this book from her favorite catalog book seller. She is interested in pirates just now, thanks to a television program she watches every Tuesday. But when the book came she was disappointed with it because it was not at all what she was expecting.

So after she read it, she gave it to me.

I think it is a lovely book. It's big, it's colorful, it's jampacked with all sorts of nifty pictures and info. But it was very hard for me to read the print sections that are in between the amazing illustrations. I don't know how Mom did it, maybe she skimmed most of it. All I know is that whoever chose to put white type on a black background made a design error. I simply could not get any of those pages in focus long enough to see what they said.

But the pictures are pretty!

[JaumeMuntane · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5

El titulo no deja lugar a dudas: "culture and style from the 15th century to present" .Y en la contraportada podemos leer "From fashion to literature. From art to cinema. The reference book on the picturesque world of piracy". Y la verdad es que nos encontramos ante un festín visual que a través de grabados, cuadros, ilustraciones, cerámicas, comics, moda, fotogramas de cine, teatro, publicidad... muestra la representación gráfica de los piratas a través de distintos siglos y medios. A destacar especialmente el magnífico diseño del libro, cuyas grandes dimensiones permitan disfrutar estas representaciones gráficas en todo su esplendor. El libro contiene varios textos sobre el tema pero obviamente se trata de un libro esencialmente visual.