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A Brief History of Pirates and Buccaneers
From Sir Francis Drake to Captain Jack
Brief History Series

by Tom Bowling

     

Robinson’s Brief History series does just what it says on the cover—each book gives a brief history of something, which in this case is piracy. The subtitle is From Sir Francis Drake to Captain Jack but of course piracy is much older than that, as one band captured Julius Caesar. Then there are river pirates, Vikings, and modern pirates, which are all touched on in short chapters; but mainly you can read about the "golden age" of piracy in the late 17th to early 18th centuries. There is certainly plenty of material for this, and you can learn very quickly all about the likes of Blackbeard (he gets his own chapter), L’Ollonais, Rackham, Ann Bonney, Captain Kidd, etc. This really is a short and easy-to-read book that conjures up the world of the pirates and informs the reader what they got up to, along with where they did it and when, among other things. Neither is it all in the author’s own words, as there are plenty of eyewitness accounts, including one from Daniel Defoe and even crew members. If you want to find out more about this fascinating subject there is a reading list at the back, and a list of websites. I found this to be a good way of learning the salient facts at speed, and it certainly whetted my appetite for more.

The Book

Robinson (Constable and Robinson)
January 2010
Paperback
1849012792 / 9781849012799
History
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2010
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