I'm a sucker for new books about pirates. I think it stems from my childhood hyper fixation on pirates. Thanks a lot Captain Hook. And this one was a good one.

I wanted to like this book, because I love pirates and learning more about them. However this felt like a bunch of information all shoved into a book with no flow. It made it hard to follow and though there were some parts I really enjoyed, overall it was a difficult read.

(Review is on goodreads. The link to the review isn't working but it is available on my profile)

Pirates. Early adopters of a democratic environment? Rogue heroes riding the high seas, hiding treasure along the way? Zealous patriots of their country? Or were they cruel, merciless individuals who lived outside the law?

Pirates have fascinated me since I was young. I’ve enjoyed films starring Errol Flynn, such as Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk. Of course, I knew they were glamorous stories, and the truth was somewhat darker. I picked up this book, interested in learning more details about the life pirates led.

While other books about pirates have included notes and source materials, I was disappointed that this one did not. It seems the author drew much of his information from the 1724 A General History of Pyrates, which I thought was considered unreliable due to its mixture of fact with fiction. The book does contain a list at the end of other books to read, so there is that.

The narrative of the book felt all over the place. It would introduce a pirate, only to describe a different pirate that either influenced, fought with, or was a contemporary of the first pirate mentioned. I kept having to go back and remind myself of the pirate I was reading about.

If all you’re looking for is an overview of pirates and are not interested in where the author got his information, this might be the book for you.

This was an enjoyable and informative read. The pirate life always intrigued me and while I was already aware that it couldn't be nearly as glamorous as Hollywood had made it out to be, learning more historical accounts of their life was still fascinating. Reading how the life of a pirate was glamorized (to an extent) even back then was interesting. I plan on picking up more books by this author, I really enjoyed how he wove historical accounts together.

Pirates
Nigel Cawthorne
Arcturus Publishing

Using contemporary sources, Nigel Cawthorne turns the spotlight on the reality of pirate life, revealing the truth behind the legends. It gives us an insight into the infamous men, and women, who plundered ship and shore, including Captain Kidd, Blackbeard and Mary Read. We learn of the hazy distinction between pirates and state-approved privateers who were used to maintain empire, as well as the Port Royal pirate base in Jamaica - known as the 'wickedest city in the world'. Including details and various accounts of ‘at sea’ and ‘on shore’ exploits, this swashbuckling read will divide fact from slippery fiction, and shivering your timbers.
The ‘life of a pirate’ is often misunderstood, misrepresented, and with some historical untruths; therefore lending creed to the tales that catered to some of the fear, the greed, and the legendary heroism and romantic rapture that is a ‘Pirate’. The mercenary nature of most piracy and its strong links to the nation states that dominated the world in its heyday, is examined by the shifting allegiances of both pirates and privateers, which the dominating main motive is simply driven by profit.
The book spans the history of piracy starting from the ancient Greek pirates and carries you through to the prime of the pirate decades. It covers all the major raids, the major pirates and players, the weaponry, the tactical courses and captures, the executions of pirates, and of course the vessels and ships. The full life at sea is covered, along with some the more famous mutinies, raids, wars, and alliances. Along with the vast amounts of abetting and enabling the merchants and governors, and even countries that took part in the corruption of everything that is piracy.

I would very much like to thank NetGalley and Nigel Cawthorne and Acturus Publishing for the opportunity to read and provide an honest and unbiased review and feedback on Pirates.

Do you like pirates? Do you want information about them? Well this book has a lot of it. A lot!
Too much of it indeed, with no breathing room for the reader and a writing style that is as dry as it could be.
At the end you find an extensive list of books to further your reading on the topic yet no bibliography list.
“Pirates” by Nigel Cawthorne was a fair attempt that unfortunately needed more polishing.

The life of a Pirate is often misunderstood and overhyped. I really appreciated this book being historically factual and also giving me more information that I could've ever imagined!

"Pirates: The Truth Behind the Robbers of the High Seas," written by Nigel Cawthorne and published by Arcturus Publishing, was recently provided to me in the form of an ARC. As I have had an affinity for this sort of thing ever since I first saw an Errol Flynn movie many moons ago, I couldn't resist giving it a look. I was not disappointed. This is a subgenre of history which has seen a lot of recent interest, but that in no way negates this author's own take on his material. It is a quick and easy read with a number of noteworthy strengths that do not always come up in other words on the topic. For example, the author is quick to emphasize the mercenary nature of most piracy and its strong links to the nation states that dominated the world in its heyday. This is done by examining the shifting allegiances of both pirates and privateers (frequently the same people) as well as the importance of the profit motive which dominates much of the more traditional examinations of the subject.. Then too, the author is quick to look at individual pirate captains as well as the sociology of the pirate bases (most famously Port Royal). In the course of so doing he touches, however lightly, on subjects like gender roles and economic motivations as they linked to the behavior of pirates. Interestingly, they frequently were more pragmatic than your average 21st century ideologically-driven terrorist. While often taking advantage of existing states of war between the nation-states of their time, many of the pirate crews were surprisingly easy going in their approach to nationalism when it suited them (crews were, as one might expect of mercenaries, often multicultural with actors from many states and socio-economic backgrounds). If all this is putting you off, fear not, there is plenty of the action on the high seas that so many of us crave as a hangover of too many movies thin on history and big on adrenaline. A fun read with some serious insights.

A well done book on the life and times of the pirates. The stories are captivating and full of action/adventure. There is a good use of first accounts to further the storylines. The author also provides a look into the weapons, sailing vessels and day to day lifestyle of a pirate. A great novel, and a very worthwhile read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a good example of how not to write a book. It's not that the contents are particularly bad. It's that everything is shoved down your throat to an extent that you, as a reader, don't have any breathing room. I did learn some new information when I could focus but it was incredibly hard to invest myself in a book like this. People don't like textbooks for a reason.

I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.

Sadly I didn't find this book all that interesting. It wasn't what I thought it would be. There is a lot of information in this but it also comes off as an info dump in a way.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Arcturus Publishing for an advanced copy of this history of piracy and tales of the Brethren of the Coast.

One of my favorite computer games growing up was a game called Syd Meier's Pirates!. In the game you played a young man whose family has been stolen away, and the character must travel to the Caribbean to get back at his family, get revenge on the man who did this all, and to make lots of money, and retire respectfully. Of course the character does this by becoming a pirate, seizing cargo, raiding towns, killing anything that gets in the way. That's the way pirates are usually portrayed in films, men wronged taking to sea for vengeance. The truth is of course far different. The men who went pirating would have loved to have retired respectfully, but they would leave a very large wake of destruction. And there were a lot of men, in both business and government who would support piracy, until it became too costly. Nigel Cawthorne in Pirates: The Truth Behind the Robbers of the High Seas gives an overview of these men who made the shipping lanes so deadly, detailing their crimes and for most of them their punishments.

The book begins with a history of piracy starting from ancient times with descriptions of Greek pirates, later pirates in Tripoli, before traveling to the time and place we know piracy so well, the Spanish Main and the Golden Age of Piracy. Spanish gold, treasure fleets, spices, material, anything that could be resold, repurposed or used to by grog and companionship. And of course respectability. Readers learn of the various alliances, letters of marque, pirate kingdoms, fleets, and of course corruption. Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, Captain William Kidd all make appearances, as well as less known pirates like Roc Brasiliano, Stede Bonnet and others.

The book covers all the major raids along with the major players, along with weapons, different kinds of ships, tactics and of course a lot of the captures and executions of pirates. Life at sea is covered, as well as stories of those who got away, or even worse marooned. There is a lot of history covered, from the alliances and wars between the French, English, Dutch and of course the Spanish. Cawthorne also covers the vast amounts of abetting and enabling that merchants, governors and even countries took part in as money corrupts everything around it. And the book features plenty of swash and buckling. There is nothing new or revelatory, the writing is good, the narrative moves well and is entertaining. A very good primer for someone new to the world or pirates, and would like to know more.