The Penguin Book of Pirates

Real-life accounts of the worldΓÇÖs most notorious piratesΓÇöboth men and women,from the Golden Age of Piracy and beyondΓÇöcompiled by the New York Times bestselling author of A True Account: Hannah MasuryΓÇÖs Sojourn Amongst the PyratesWritten by Herself A Penguin Classic Spanning three centuries and eight thousand nautical milesand compiled by a direct descendant of a sailor who waged war with pirates in the early nineteenth centuryThe Penguin Book of Pirates takes us behind the eye patchesthe peg legsand the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger and into the no-manΓÇÖs-land of piracy that is rife with paradoxes and plot twists. Herein a fascinating array of accounts that include trial transcriptsjournalismship logsand moreare the grit and patois of real maritime marauders like the infamous Blackbeard; the pirates who inspired Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the CaribbeanStede Bonnet in MaxΓÇÖs Our Flag Means Deathand the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride; the astoundingly egalitarian multi-ethnic and multilingual crews that became enmeshed in historical horrors like the slave trade; and lesser-known but no less formidable women piratesmany of whom disguised themselves as men. By turns brutalharrowingand inspiringthese accounts of the ΓÇ£radically freeΓÇ¥ sailors who were citizens more of the oceangoing world than of any nation on land remind us of the glories and dangers of the open seas and the seductive appeal of communities forged in resistance.