Product Description

What were pirates really like? How much, if any, of the piratical stereotype - of a dashingly handsome man with an eye-patch, peg-leg and a parrot on his shoulder - is based on the documented fact. In this revealing and highly original study David Cordingly sets out to discover the truth behind the piracy myth, exploring its enduring and extraordinary appeal, and answering such questions as: why did men become pirates? Were there any women pirates? How much money did they make from plundering and looting? And were pirates really dashing highwaymen of the Seven Seas or just vicious cut-throats and robbers? From Long John Silver to Henry Morgan, Robert Louis Stevenson to J.M. Barrie, LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES examines all the heavyweights of history and literature and presents the essential survey of this fascinating phenomenon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39441 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 359 pages

Review
'Readable, wide-ranging and entertaining' - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Fascinating' - GUARDIAN 'Splendidly illuminates the blurred distinctions between pirates, privateers and those who attacked ships in the name of their sovereigns' - EVENING STANDARD 'Excellent' - TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT 'A comprehensive and colourful account of seafaring life.' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

GUARDIAN
'Fascinating'

EVENING STANDARD
'Splendidly illuminates the blurred distinctions between pirates, privateers and those who attacked ships in the name of their sovereigns'

Customer Reviews

Excellent book but ... WARNING
This is indeed an excellent book, probably as close to definitive in its subject matter as can be got. However, although the following is NOT a critique of the quality of either book's contents, am afraid I cannot wax lyrical further as LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES is ... exactly the SAME book as UNDER THE BLACK FLAG.

Neither book's flysheet mentions any "Originally published as" statements, so I think the work was published as LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES (Little, Brown & Co. 1995; reprint by Abacus 2000/2002) in the UK, but for the United States market as UNDER THE BLACK FLAG (Harvest/Harcourt Brace & Co. 1997). Am not exaggerating: Introduction, Chapter Titles, Maps, Illustrations, Appendices, Glossary, and Bibliography are the same - word-perfect. I do feel rather 'slapped in the face' (and with egg on it, too!). Whilst I accept that Amazon are not to blame for this embarrassing échec, I hope Amazon will list my review/comment so that others will not make the same mistake ...!!!

rollover errol flynn
David Cordingly appears to live and breathe life on the high seas and it shows in his writing. Formerly head of exhibitions at the National Maritime Museum and time spent in Jamaica, the 18th century hot bed of a key Carribean pirate island, he brings an authoritative and thoroughly entertaining romp.

"Life among the pirates" is an exhilarating dip into the history of the seas' highwaymen, and highwaywomen, adroitly separating the fiction from the fact and as the subtitle says, the romance from the reality. Cordingly lays bare the skulduggery, the malice, the terror and the opportunism, in unearthing the true pirates.

There is a lot of history and seafaring wherefores to cover. The war with Spain, and France, the fight to claim the American continent, the privateers, buccaneers and corsairs, the difference between sloops, schooners, snows, ships and Royal Navy rated vessels. And whilst Cordingly often skips and races through passages of big history, there's enough to place his story in context. It leaves one enticed and signposted to search for the bigger picture elsewhere.

"Life among the pirates" delights in attacking Hollywood, a la twinkle eyed Errol Flynn, for upping the ante on the romance at the neglect of the depravity and forelorn short lived life of the renegades they ape to depict.

The latest movie incarnation in "Pirates of the Carribean", proves it was a little more well researched with a half glance to Cordingly's account yet it is still mixed with a heady dose of the loveable rogues. So he might be a little more forgiving of this latest blockbuster as there are elements brought to life from the book such as the pirates' island bases, the battle with the British Navy, the executions, and yes that inevitable enviable charm. It can certainly do no harm in promoting this book and the real life behind the screen.

Writers such as Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson and J M Barrie are covered too, as is the contemporary art some of which is illustrated. All told, Cordingly has written an incisive and readable account.

Beware the romance, there are some shocking passages of torture and battle to make even those stern of heart, wince. And lest not forget that pirates are still operating in the seas albeit without the eye patches, wooden legs and shouldered parrots.

cordingley's pirates
A fantastic read by a true master of the subject. What one would superficially expect when considering a history of seventeenth and eighteenth century piracy would be chapters on ships and guns, flags and punishments. This is all here, of course, but arranged in a much more interesting way. There are chapters on our own perceptions of piracy such as its portrayal in film, and Cordingley's pirates are not camp and brightly coloured, endlessly dancing hornpipes and the like; they are set in their social context. Read this book, then give it to one of the endless masses of military history enthusiasts as proof that the guns and tactics they natter on about at length are much less fascinating than the full spectrum of piracy's social impact. Great stuff