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The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down | 
 enlarge | Author: Colin Woodard
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $5.99
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Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 26169
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0151013020
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.45
EAN: 9780151013029
ASIN: 0151013020
Publication Date: May 7, 2007
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Product Description
In the early eighteenth century a number of the great pirate captains, including Edward "Blackbeard" Teach and "Black Sam" Bellamy, joined forces. This infamous "Flying Gang" was more than simply a thieving band of brothers. Many of its members had come to piracy as a revolt against conditions in the merchant fleet and in the cities and plantations in the Old and New Worlds. Inspired by notions of self-government, they established a crude but distinctive form of democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which indentured servants were released and leaders chosen or deposed by a vote. They were ultimately overcome by their archnemesis, Captain Woodes Rogers—a merchant fleet owner and former privateer—and the brief though glorious moment of the Republic of Pirates came to an end.
In this unique and fascinating book, Colin Woodard brings to life this virtually unexplored chapter in the Golden Age of Piracy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Provides a fascinating history of real pirate worlds August 17, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
Captains such as Blackbeard and Charles Vane created the 'Flying Gang' and established the Pirate Republic in the Bahamas, where blacks were equal citizens, servants became free, and leaders were voted in - or out. Most think of 'pirates' and how they cut off trade routes and sacked ships, but actually they were heroes in the eyes of many - and REPUBLIC OF PIRATES: BEING THE TRUE AND SURPRISING STORY OF THE CARIBBEAN PIRATES AND THE MAN WHO BROUGHT THEM DOWN provides a fascinating history of real pirate worlds - perfect for any collection interested in pirates.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
The Golden Age of Piracy: crime and adventure in its context August 14, 2008
Jason A. Greer (Greenville, SC USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
The republic of Pirates July 30, 2008
Thaddeus A. Opiola (Macomb, MI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Colin Woodard has done a great job in documenting all we know about the Caribbean Pirates. I like the level of detail. I enjoyed the investigative detail of all of his research on court trials and history. No doldrums in the reading this book at all; each page and chapter carefully well written and laid out. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to buy this as a gift, who would like to read about the Caribbean pirates and who loves to read about history. There was good introduction about the famous John Avery Madagascar pirate.
I really enjoyed how this information was woven together and I hope Collin writes another just on the Madagascar pirates.
Better than Expected June 2, 2008
Andrew (Davis, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was very descriptive and detailed. All the pirates, their crews, and ships were all named, and a few of the ships were pinned down to the port they were made at and the type of wood they were made from. Somehow the author was able to compile all of this data and turn it into a real story.
I couldn't put it down.
A Real History May 29, 2008
J. Crivelli (NY, NY, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Because of the popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean, many books about pirates have been published in the past few years. Most are light-weight works.
The Republic of Pirates is a real history which puts the pirates of the early 18th Century in perspective, concentrating on the Bahamas.
This is one of several excellent books I've read recently about pirates.
My interest was originally sparked in 1995 with David Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag" because this book pictured the privateers/pirates as sea-going guerrillas.
Beside "The Republic of Pirates", the following are worth reading:
Peter Earle Pirate Wars
The Sack of Panama
Stephan Talty Empire of Blue Water
Benerson Little The Sea Rover's Practice
The Buccaneer's Realm
Richard Zacks The Pirate Coast
Frederick C. Leiner End of the Barbary Terror
Together these works cover piracy from the late 16th to the early 19th Century.
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