Customer Reviews

The History Of Pirates

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is probably my second favorite book on pirates (Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly is first on my list). However, this is a high quality overview of the history of pirates from earliest recorded times onward. Konstam breaks it down by era, from the ancient world on, with discussion of the periods, famous names and regions.

While the textual content is well written and researched. the graphic content is probably even more impressive. The inclusion of maps and period images make this an entertaining as well as informative read. P-)

The scope of this book is very wide. It covers the history of piracy from the ancient world until the modern age. The bulk of the material, however, covers the golden age of piracy in the Carribean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The format of the book is very large with full color pictures on every page. Basically it's a coffee table book. The color pictures definitely stir the imagination. Fan of pirate lore and fans of the recent movie "Pirates of the Carribean" will be pleased to read this.

My only complaint is that the text is a little light. Even famous pirates such as Blackbeard and Captain Morgan only get two pages each. I realize that some text space had to be sacrificed for all the color pictures, but I was hoping for a little more information. If you're interested in pictures or if you aren't such a heavy reader, this will be a great book for you. If you would like something a little meatier, perhaps another book is for you. I do think this is an excellent source for pictures of pirates though.

Angus Konstam takes us through a general history of piracy on the seas, from the ancient raiders of Babylonia and Greece to the modern-day guerillas in speedboats armed with AK-47 assault rifles in the south China Sea. Each chapter is well illustrated with period paintings and photographs, with particular focus on the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 16th and 17th century when galleons and merchant brigs carried gold, jewels, sugar, cotton, and rum from the Spanish Main to the American colonies and Europe.

Well written and easy to read, each page is printed on glossy paper and clean typeface, with illustrations to help convey the mood of the book. Its an entertaining history of piracy (and if a book isn't entertaining, then why read it?). It may not have the depth of some of the more scholastically-oriented books available, but this book is a good place to start when building your library.

Overall, a good book to have around.

Published in association with the Mariners' Museum in Virginia and use maps, photos and color illustrations throughout to make for histories which are lively and probing, History Of Pirates covers the reality of pirates, comparing this reality to traditional Hollywood myths and surveying both early and modern pirating history around the world.

This book is heavy on the illustrations. That being said, it is NOT necessarily light on information.

In particular, I was VERY pleased with how well balanced the very subject of pirate biographies was treated. There are sections of the book dedicated to each major geographical region, as well as to different time periods.

It lightly glosses over the subjects of ships, weaponry, practices, flags, and strongholds (for better coverage of these things, try Benerson Little's Sea Rover's Practice), but gives a great deal of general biographical information on many different famous pirates from the Indian Ocean, Far East, Caribbean, and even on back into the "Ancient World."

For general reference in a well-balanced delivery, with plenty of attention given to other-than-Caribbean and other-than-late-17th-century piracy, I recommend no other book more.

The History of Pirates by Angus Konstam is a must have book for any pirate enthusiast. It spans the entire history of piracy, although not to any great depth, and it uses some of the best pictures and art work I have seen. This is a perfect coffee table book as suggested by some other reviewers, and it serves that purpose very well.

I could not more strongly recommend this book, what a great read! If you enjoy this book and you are interested in other pirate related books, movies and games, visit me at my website: Http://www.thefist.org

Angus Konstam's HISTORY OF PIRATES uses works from the Mariners' Museum in Virginia to provide a powerful visual impact. Piracy from ancient to modern times is surveyed in a series of maps, images, and discussions that cover specific events, regions, and pirates. Plenty of historical and political background to the events place each in perspective and provide an excellent survey of mariner events of the times. There are other pirate histories on the market - but none with the commitment to visuals of HISTORY OF PIRATES.

by Rebecca Sibert

My father bought me "The History of Pirates" when we visited the treasure exihibit in Key West. It was shortly after Pirates of the Caribbean DMC had come to theatres, and I was highly interested.

It is a very informative book. Extended research has been put into it; the author has abandoned the romantized notions that Hollywood has arbitarily put together, and he gives us a fresh and accurate look at the real men and women who plagued the seven seas.

A must-have for all true pirate lovers, it contains information concerning the corsairs, the buccaneers, and privateers, and it accurately tells the reader how important said names are, along information on pirate weapons, clothing, pirate hunters, and ships. So often pirate fans walk away from movies (and even books), thinking that the producers and writers have caught the real pirates, but their imaginations are filled with laudable cliches of noble thieves, dashing captains, and fun at sea. The true stories of the starvation, disease, misery, and hopeless are lost in Treasure Island and Errol Flynn's movies. "The History of Pirates" gives a good look at both the "successful" and the unlucky robbers of the sea.

This book isn't bad in that it gives a general overview of piracy throughout history with a large focus on the buccanneers and pirates of the Caribbean and Africa from the 16th to the 18th century.

Some of the chapters (which are only a couple of pages) just give an overview of the time and place while others do focus on individuals. The chapters that do focus on individuals are rather brief in my opinion. Some do go into detail, such as with Henry Morgan but others are given only a couple of pages.

There are plenty of maps and pictures that accompany the chapters but many of these don't really add much to the work itself. The antique maps that are presented are for the most part too small to be of any use.

I would have liked to have seen more diagrams of the ships of the time as well.

This is a good book if you just want some general information, though most of the information contained in here is somewhat common knowledge for anyone who's studied pirates before. That said, this is a good book if you just want a good overview and don't want to dig through the chapters of a more indepth book.

Great book to use as an overall general resource, although, the problem with the book is that Konstam does not include any citations within the book. This would have been an excellent scholarly source, however, the primary source requirements just do not fit. Still, I did very much enjoy reading through the book, it is a great overview of piracy as a whole with brief biographies about the most famous pirates and places.