The History of Piracy

Written by an eminentauthority on pirate lore and literature, The History of Piracy is one of the mostimportant books on thesubject. Tracing the rise of piracy from its ancient beginnings to its ultimate demise, it leads readers down an excitingpath of fortune, fame, and folly.Within this exhaustivevolume on the pirate profession, readers will encounter an unforgettable cast of plundering characters eccentric, dramatic, but always human. Here are the maritime brigands who challenged even the most powerful nations on the high seas. From the Vikings to the Elizabethan corsairs to the buccaneers of the West, discover who these pirates were, what they did, and, ultimately, why they disappeared. A landmark in picaresque history, this classic provides penetrating detail on the world's seafaring outlaws, including their morals, codes of honor, and taboos.It's sure tosatisfy the modern reader's enduring fascination with pirates and their lives.Included in this edition are four maps and seventeen illustrations from the volume's original printing.