Pirates: Predators of the Sea: An Illustrated History Hardcover – May 1, 2007

Rebels, revolutionaries, terrorists, criminals? Different feathers off the same turkey...think about jt.

A beautifully illustrated brief history of piracy. An interesting read and well worth the price.

nice condition.

While this book in and of itself is not bad , if you have the author's previous work on pirates, this one seems pointless. It covers pretty much the same ground and most of the illustrations are the same as in his earlier work.

This is a smaller sized version of several highly illustrated editions of pirate books, and textually wise, better than some. There is a big book out there "A World Wide Illustrated History: PIRATES -- Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea", also edited by David Cordingly; that one is much larger, even better illustrated, but the test leaves something to be desired. This one is smaller, thiner, but also with fine visuals, but also a better textual treatment of the subject. I like both of these books, but prefer this one for the reading, and the other for the looking. Get both, if you can find them cheap enough. This volume does go a bit deeper into the subject matter than some others and may be one of the better basic studies. Read A General History of Pirates by Capt. Charles Johnson (1724) for the standard version of the stories of individual pirates (reading books 300 years old can be a little bit of a challenge, but you get used to it).The contents of this book provide a history of piracy from ancient times to the present and cover a wide variety of topics. One herein will learn of piracy in the Middle Ages and the development of the corsairs of North Africa. It gives a thorough picture of the whole spectrum of activities along the Spanish Main from the earliest days onward, and does not concentrate on the so-called "Golden Age". There is further a chapter on piracy in the South China Sea. The book features good maps in addition to the other copious illustrations. This book is also somewhat devoid of the sensationalism which many of the earlier works provided, and one does not get a lot of the "pirates as a cultural phenomena" stuff. This a a good, solid, overall history of the sea robbers as the real things.

You could call this a popcorn read. However the book is more than what thegaudy cover suggests. Not a profound read but very well illustrated with qualityprinting on good quality paper stock. Many maps that bring to life the great featsof maritime sailing in days of yore. Plus a great price at half the amount of localbook sellers. Thanks Ruben R. Martinez

This fascinating history begins with a discussion of who should be considered a pirate and quickly moves into the history of the trade, beginning with Greek pirates mentioned by Homer. There is much discussion of the development of ships and seafaring in the western world between 400 B.C and 1600. There is a brief history of piracy and boats of the South-China sea. The text next moves to a general history of piracy from the Classical period. Beginning with Greek pirates such as the Aetolians and their descendants, the Cilician's it examines piracy in the Mediterranean world. Islamic pirates and their forbears are discussed. The Vikings were the first `European' pirates and they were followed by the English. The first English record for the execution of a pirate dates from 1228. There were also pirates in the Baltic sea. Some of the worst pirates to plague Europe were the Barbary pirates from North Africa. As Muslims they raided as far as Ireland, taking Europeans as slaves to be sold in the markets of Algeria. But there was much mixing in the world of Piracy, the Barbaroosa Brothers, Christians, were famed pirates of the Mediterranean, working for the Turks. Malta, run by descendants of the Crusaders, also participated in Piracy. However it was the British pirates such as Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins who served queen Elizabeth that are well known to those interested in Pirates. Their precursors in raids on the `Spanish' new world were the French Huguenots of the 16th century. In the 17th century the Buccaneers who became the typical pirates of the age. Men from many backgrounds, usually protestant, found their way to Hispaniola in the Caribbean and began plundering Spanish shipping. The pirates of this period did not merely take vessels, they plundered towns in places such as Panama and lake Maracaibo, destroying the economy and the settlements. The Golden Age of piracy in the early 18th century is given much coverage, as its notorious pirates such as Blackbeard, Edward Teach, Woodes Rogers and Jack Rackham. The death of Batholomew Roberts in 1722 ended the `Golden Age' of piracy. Many pirate crews were hung for their deeds. The next pirates to appear on the scene coincide with the American revolution. 1835 marked the last execution of pirates in the U.S. Chapter twelve examines the history of Piracy in Asia and 13 examines the nature of `Pirate havens' and their cultures, and bring the history up to the present with a discussion of piracy off Somalia, the straits of Malacca and elsewhere. This is a brilliant book with many photographs both of old paintings and modern photos of forts and boats. There are a plethora of highly detailed and informative maps which make this more than a history of piracy but also a history of the New world and the world as well. The subject matter is interesting and stories well told.Seth J. Frantzman

Another book for my collection. Interesting.

An amazing detailed source of pirates, very useful, will come in handy on long boring journeys, defiantly will recommend to a friend.