Read The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books
Read The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books
Download As PDF : The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books
The untold story of a heroic band of Caribbean pirates whose defiance of imperial rule inspired revolt in colonial outposts across the world
In the early eighteenth century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates—former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves—this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote. They cut off trade routes, sacked slave ships, and severed Europe from its New World empires, and for a brief, glorious period the Republic was a success.
Read The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books
""They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference [between us]: they rob the poor under the cover of law . . . and we plunder the rich under the cover of our own courage.†- Black Sam
Through the use of court documents, testimonies, and scribes Collin Woodard strips the eye patch and not only explains the chain of events that spawned the pirate republic but also humanized the people behind the legends. An extraordinary tale about extraordinarily lives. I almost ran out of pages on my notebook and learned more than I expected. Fascinating stuff.
I regard this book with mixed emotions. On one hand I loved the information and was impressed with the level of detail. On the other I couldn't help but think that the book needed a more efficient approach. Reading this book is laborious due in lart to the dry writing style and it also contains unneeded material that's best fitted in the footnote section.
Except from my notes:
This book helped me strip the eye patch and introduced me to the real people behind the legends. Captains like Sam Bellamy (Black Sam) believed that their deeds were justified and even fancied himself a Robin Hood. Edward Thatch aka Blackbeard was the stereotypical pirate. He embraced the rugged appearance to the point of having fire and smoke emanate from his hat in order to scare his rivals into submission."
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Tags : The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down [Colin Woodard] on . <DIV> </DIV><P><B>The untold story of a heroic band of Caribbean pirates whose defiance of imperial rule inspired revolt in colonial outposts across the world</B></P><P>In the early eighteenth century,Colin Woodard,The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down,Mariner Books,015603462X,Caribbean West Indies - General,Modern - 18th Century,Buccaneers - History - 18th century,Buccaneers;History;18th century.,Pirates - Caribbean Area - History - 18th century,Pirates;Caribbean Area;History;18th century.,Pirates;History.,18th Century World History,18th century,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Adventurers Explorers,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals Outlaws,Buccaneers,Caribbean Area,Caribbean Area - History,HISTORY / Caribbean West Indies / General,History,History - General History,History / Modern / 18th Century,History of the Americas,History World,Pirates
The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books Reviews :
The Republic of Pirates Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Colin Woodard 9780156034623 Books Reviews
- Probably the best book written about the pirates who raised havoc in the Caribbean and the Eastern Coast of North America from Charleston to Maine. They're all here. Samuel Bellamy, Edward Thatch (Teach), the infamous 'Blackbeard', Charles Vane and the 'gentleman pirate' Stede Bonnet whose despite a total lack of maritime skills enters into piracy and is rewarded with failure after failure in his miserable attempts at the trade.
There are many more men (and women) who engage in piracy and the culmination of their demise by the efforts of Woodes Rogers, the Governor of the Bahamas, himself a tragic figure in the long run.
Colin Woodward has gone to great lengths to detail the short careers of these people and their successes as well as failures with their pillages and subsequent 'booty' taken in these raids. What surprised me is most anything was 'treasure' to the pirates. Forget the gold, silver and pieces of eight stories you've heard. Sure that was the stuff to have but cloth, silk, flour, wine, bread, livestock and even barrels of nails and wood were taken as well. Pirate captains were elected by their crews. Do well and manage to raid commerce vessels whose holds contained marketable goods and you kept your position as leader of the crew. Have repeated failures (life Stede Bonnet) and you could find yourself either voted out and back as a regular crew member or worse, contest your ouster and have the crew dump you on the nearest sandbar or uninhabited island as you stood watching your ship and former comrades sail off in the distance. I also never knew that pirates slaughtering crew members of ships they raided was a rarity. Most pirates would attempt to get these sailors to join their ranks (piracy was much more lucrative than being a sailor on a merchant vessel) or some were impressed into it because of a needed skill like a surgeon, carpenter or seasoned deck hand. After cleaning out the hold of a ship sometimes the captain was given a token payment for the cargo or he and his crew were set ashore somewhere desolate. Usually a place they would be found long after the pirates were gone. In most cases their ship was either seized and added to the pirate fleet, burned to the waterline or in many cases kept by the pirates and the captain and crew given a smaller vessels from the pirate fleet that had been seized earlier and sent on their way.
This book is a terrific read and chock full of details. Well worth the money spent. - I love this book!!! As a history buff and adventurer, I found The Republic of Pirates to be a thrilling education of an era all too often overly romanced in the movies and tv programs. The true stories backed by documentation of those who were there are so far more exciting than fiction. All the stories herein are told in such a way that it was difficult to put the book down. I love the footnotes, proof of sources, and all the hard work that went into this book! Excellent and many thanks to the author for not taking the lazy route in putting this together. I highly recommend this book for any who want to know the real story of some of the most notorious pirates in history, how they lived, what inspired them and ultimately what led to their demise. This will be a reference in my library to return to many times in the future. Thank you Colin Woodard for such a fabulous book.
- "They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference [between us] they rob the poor under the cover of law . . . and we plunder the rich under the cover of our own courage.†- Black Sam
Through the use of court documents, testimonies, and scribes Collin Woodard strips the eye patch and not only explains the chain of events that spawned the pirate republic but also humanized the people behind the legends. An extraordinary tale about extraordinarily lives. I almost ran out of pages on my notebook and learned more than I expected. Fascinating stuff.
I regard this book with mixed emotions. On one hand I loved the information and was impressed with the level of detail. On the other I couldn't help but think that the book needed a more efficient approach. Reading this book is laborious due in lart to the dry writing style and it also contains unneeded material that's best fitted in the footnote section.
Except from my notes
This book helped me strip the eye patch and introduced me to the real people behind the legends. Captains like Sam Bellamy (Black Sam) believed that their deeds were justified and even fancied himself a Robin Hood. Edward Thatch aka Blackbeard was the stereotypical pirate. He embraced the rugged appearance to the point of having fire and smoke emanate from his hat in order to scare his rivals into submission. - A very good read. It's rare to find an historical non-fiction that's both engaging and informative. The narrative is both gripping and suspenseful enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, without the author committing the "sin" so many historians do, namely, of omniscience. It's well-researched, and well-written. Reading this, it's easy to see how, if things had gone just little differently at so many junctures, independence could have been declared in North America 50 some years before 1776.
- I have learned a lot more about the pirates of the Caribbean than I ever wanted to know, but now I can be fascinating at dinner tables. For one thing, I didn't know that there where were such serious divisions among pirate leaders over the English Succession; Stuart vs. Hanover. It all had to do with royal pardons. Another aspect of pirate life was the need not only to plunder cargoes but to find the ships to do so. We are so accustomed to national Navies that we take their ships for granted; the average pirate king was constantly on the lookout for better transport. Mr. Woodard's book is full of such insights, but I found it a bit tedious, probably because, by definition, the pirates were pretty much free agents, and their histories don't cluster very well. As a result the book sometimes just becomes a chronology, centered around individuals. Not bad bedtime reading, but occasionally a slog.
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