Pirates are so much a part of legend it's easy to forget they actually existed. Their roving lives left scant historical record. Our image of them is derived from a smattering of fact overlaid with three centuries of ballads, plays, poetry and films. But how does our conception compare with reality and why is such a romantic aura associated with murderers and thieves? Pursuing that question, Dr David Cordingly, former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum, has mined original sources--eyewitness accounts, court documents, archives etc--to create an authoritative account of the great age of piracy.
Under the Black Flag explodes many myths, replacing them with a truth that is more complex and just as fascinating. Here are the real stories of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Henry Morgan, Henry Avery (who captured a treasure fleet but died penniless) and cross-dressing Anne Bonny & Mary Read. From battle to the isolation of life at sea, Under the Black Flag makes tangible their day-to-day existence: How they attacked, how they governed themselves, what they wore, what ships they used, why they flourished ca 1720 & what brought them to an end--all covered in this history.
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