Pirates! (Trade Editions) [Paperback]

Angus Konstam (Author), Angus McBride (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1998 | Series: Trade Editions (Book 67)

Here are the pirates during the 'golden age' between 1660 and 1730. Described are their motives, dress, the weaponry and ships of such figures as 'Blackbeard', Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd, 'Calico Jack' Rackham, Anne Bonny and Mary Read. They threatened the western Atlantic for over 70 years.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Bringing History to Life collection is made up of Osprey's all-time favourite titles, re-released with striking new covers - selected titles also include visitor information sections.

About the Author

Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands and is the author of over 15 books, many of which are published by Osprey. His other maritime titles include New Vanguard 42: British Napoleonic Ship-of-the-Line, Elite 69: Buccaneers 1620-1700 and Elite 70: Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560-1605. Formerly the Curator of Weapons in the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, he also served as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He is now based in London, where he combines a freelance museum consultancy business with a career as a historian and writer. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (October 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855328372
• ISBN-13: 978-1855328372
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,085,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With over 50 history books in print, Angus is a widely recognised and much-published historian. While he specialises in military and naval history he has also written numerous more general history books, designed to make the subject more accessible to a wider audience. Uniquely he has been able to draw on his expertise as a senior museum curator who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on his academic training as a historian and as a maritime archaeologist.

His latest book is a full-length biography: Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, which is published by Wiley & Sons. of New York (June 2006)

Angus is also just finished writing a history of the Allied landings at Salerno in September 1943 for the British publisher Pen & Sword, and he is currently working on a new project, with the working title of Supership: The Quest for the Renaissance Battleship.

Angus lives in Edinburgh, in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AHOY!, August 1, 2000

By 

Marcelo P M Volcato - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pirates 1660-1730 (Elite) (Paperback)

This is a great book to anyone interested on this period and in piracy.Angus Konstam's text is both concise and accurate,while Angus McBride's illustrations are certainly some of the best I have ever seen.The book is mostly about British pirates which should be expected,since Osprey is from Great Britain,and British sailors were always inclined towards piratical activities.The sections on pirate warfare and pirate codes are particularly nice,and you get biographies on such pirates as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd as well.The only thing I miss is a color cut-away illustration of a pirate ship.Even though,I must say It's an A+ job from front to back cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pirates, April 9, 2007

By 

K. Murphy "Fortune favors the Bold" (The thriving metropolis of Masury, OH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pirates 1660-1730 (Elite) (Paperback)

I got this book and read all of it today, and found it to be a fine and enjoyable to read introduction to Piracy, focusing on European and Colonial American piracy between 1660 and 1730. The author does point out in his introduction that pirates always have, and always will exist, simply in different forms with different tactics. The author also discusses the fine line between legal or semi-legal privateers, and then the truly criminal pirates, as well the as the roles of women and black sailors. The book discusses the following topics:

The Pirate Crew (composition, motivation and dress)

Pirate Warfare (tactics)

Pirate Dens

Pirate Plunder

Pirate Captains and Characters (brief descriptions of 9 piratical careers)

Pirate ships (inlcuding sloops, schooners, brigantines, and square-riggers)

Pirate Codes

Pirate Flags

Pirate Justice

Biblography, plate commentary, and index

The book also has 12 pages of full-color paintings by the incomparable Angus McBride, depicting the pirates themselves along with their weapons, victims, flags, and executioners.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Golden Age of Piracy, January 21, 2006

By 

David Stapleton (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pirates 1660-1730 (Elite) (Paperback)

This is an Osprey book, so you need to think in terms of an adult version of the Eyewitness picture books. You shouldn't expect an exhaustively comprehensive treatment of the subject, after all they tend to be only 1/4 inch thick.

So, with expectations aligned, this is a fairly well done treatment of the subject of pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy. There are quite a few pictures to compliment the text and the topics covered include their origins, dress, tactics, flags, ports and ships. Konstam gives us some brief biographies of a few of the famous names like Teach, Bonny, Reade, Rackam, Vane, Every, Bonnet, Kidd and the Dread Pirate Roberts.

An excellent overview suitable for adolescents and adults, for more detail on William Kidd I suggest Richard Zacks' The Pirate Hunter, for more of an overview of piracy through the ages I suggest Konstam's The History of Pirates.