Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes (New Autonomy) [Hardcover]

Peter Lamborn Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995 | Series: New Autonomy

outsider history of 16th-19th century North Africa

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Autonomedia (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570270244
• ISBN-13: 978-1570270246
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent title on Pirates from a unique Perspective, April 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes (New Autonomy) (Hardcover)

I really thought this book was great. It has a unique stance and is not just written from a historical perscpective. Wilson's premise is that the pirate republic of Salle was actually the first democracy (leadership not based on class, race or money) even before the French Revolution, though I'm still a bit skeptical on that point, I thought it was well argued and a good read. I've actually bought this book a few times and given it away to freinds and had to buy a it again! I especially liked the chapter on female pirates.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Piracy and social resistance, March 29, 2000

By 

ilka decker (Caerleon,Wales,U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes (New Autonomy) (Hardcover)

"Pirate Utopias"is a refreshingly new look at an almost forgotten episode in European/North African history.Wilson not only examines the lives and actions of several notorious pirates in order to identify their incentive,but paints them against a colourful backdrop of a restricted Christian Europe,comparing this picture with the more democratic tendencies of the Islamic nations. During the period concerned (from the 16th to the 19th century),several thousand European Renegadoes renounced Christianity to join the pirate "jihad".In Wilson's view,only a few had been forced to convert,but the majority may have chosen Islam in order to practise social resistance.- The author's view on the socio-political aspects is challenging our pre-conceived perceptions on piracy in particular and history (in the Hegelian Monumentalist sense) in general. He describes the Bou Regreg republics as the first democratic spaces ashore-the pirate ships already being such. While the main subject of the book is to examine and re-evaluate the relationship between Islamic pirates and European renegades,Wilson also uses the figure of Corsair Captain Murad Reis as a link to inspect piracy in 17th century Ireland. Because a closer look would stretch the limits of this book,he kept it brief,just as he only mentions the Uskoks in a footnote. Consequently the latter Utopias of Hispaniola,Libertatia and Nassau are confined to the last chapter. It is a generally well-researched book,which is very exciting in its innovative take on piracy in relation to larger social structures. An exciting book which satiates your literary appetite only to leave you wanting more! And good fun to read, too...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of PLW, August 27, 2003

By 

"ghulammuinuddin" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs & European Renegadoes (New Autonomy) (Hardcover)

786
Possible the best of PLW. A one-of-a-kind chronicle of an era of history that the Western World would love to forget: the heyday of Ottoman and independant Barbary Piracy. Read about thousands of Moricos (Spanish Muslims) who joined the Barbary fleets en masse after being kicked out of Spain after the Inquisitions and their unique imprint on emerging Morrocan society; read about the thousands of European "Renagadoes" who happily dropped out of the Western world and its stifiling oppression to take up the green banner of Islam; read about life as a Renagado Corsair and some rare accounts of their lives. Destoy your myths about piracy and "jihad." Despite PLW's eccentricites and (at times)weird agenda, this book is a masterpiece, no doubt.