The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down Paperback – Illustrated, June 30, 2008

The Golden Age of Piracy, roughly a 30 year period at the beginning of the 18th century, has taken on such a romantic notion in the modern mind, that when you actually discover the true events of the period, that the true story becomes much larger than the caricature that has been painted by Disney or other children's' stories. What Woodard, a native Maine journalist, attempts to do in this book is explain who the pirates actually were, what their motivation was, and why their heyday ended so rapidly. What makes this book so readable, is that not only does Woodard recount the hazards of early 18th century sailing so well, but he places it in its economic, social and political context.What made the pirates of the age so different from previous pirates, for piracy has been around as long as men have taken to the sea, was that these pirates were considered outlaws by every nation, and quite a large percentage of the few thousand who made up the Golden Age, were political dissenters, and hopeful insurgents against the new House of Hanover of Britain, and supporters of the deposed House of Stuart.Woodard inserts several things into his narrative that make this book worthwhile. His description of the extremely harsh social and economic conditions that sailors of the day had to serve under goes a long way to describe why a sailor with an otherwise spotless record would choose to leave legitimate merchant or military service for the high risk life of a Caribbean pirate. The author also makes the at time arcane world of 18th century sailing understandable and real. The reader, by the end of the book, should know the difference and significance between sloops, various rates of line ships, and frigates for example.The book focuses on the personalities of the era especially well. The rise pirate "republic" of the failed British colony of the Bahamas is shown to be personality driven by pirates like Vane and Hornigold. The public persona of Blackbeard, as well as the bumbling of Stede Bonnet illustrates how pirates used or misused their personal gifts to advance their high risk/ high reward profession.Put into context, the reader, besides learning about a fascination time period that was as exciting and really as short lived as the outlaw period of the American west or the gangster rule of Chicago, can see how a pattern of the rule of law and social convention breaks down in all sorts of time periods and circumstances. The British government solution, led by the Bahamian Governor, Woodes Rogers, was to aggressively assert authority over the center of the insurgence and then to alternate between warnings of mercy and systematic hunting of the lawbreakers by getting them to use their natural suspicion to turn on each other.This is a fascinating book for the general reader. There are sufficient maps of the 18th century Caribbean and the North American coast, and the writing not only puts the events into context, but tells the story well, by describing the motivations and personalities of the Golden Age of Piracy so that they make sense within their time period.

Had read other reviews where it was stated book arrives with cover bent, folded and it turns out that is true. Book arrived with crease on the cover. Great read poor product

I can feel the boredom - What an accumulation of first and secondhand information - outstanding - unparalleled - it can be overwhelming in detail - and you're going to love it -I appreciate the most how he brought the main pirates of that era to life - Those boys had it going for a decade or so -ultimately, they just wanted to have fun at the merchants' expense - great book that adds to the history of the early 1700's -

Movies and other fiction have portrayed quite a distorted view of piracy emphasizing the sensational elements; e.g. pitched ship to ship battles, swashbuckling fighters swinging from ropes, walking the plank. However, this book tells the real story of how pirates operated and it dispels the exaggerations of Hollywood. One would think this would make for a dull dry accounting of the dreary life of a pirate but it turns out the truth is so much stranger and more interesting than the fictional accounts. Early in the book it details the rather harried haunted existence of a typical English mariner. This horrifying setting provides the background for why piracy became an attractive option for colonists and English sailors. It then describes the weird evolution of how pirates made their initial heists and graduated to bigger and more potent ships, the impact of the use of those ships and strange facts about pirate government and their interactions with legitimate colonial governors and the fascinatingly bizarre elements of ship maintenance not normally discussed in any glib fictional account. All of this along with the description of the lives of those tasked with ending piracy and those that committed it presented a rich textured description of life in the early 1700's. The bewildering array of ship classifications is clearly described and then used throughout the text. The book chronicles the start, evolution and decline of Caribbean piracy. If you are considering writing a story set in the golden age of piracy I would consider this a vital starting resource.