Pirates!

By Angus Kongstam and Angus Konstam

This book gives an accurate picture of the pirates who sailed in the waters of the Caribbean and off the American coastline during the 'golden age' of piracy between 1660 and 1730. It traces the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1855328372
• ISBN13: 9781855328372
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 7.3" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Beware the Jolly Roger!

From the late sevententh century to the early eighteenth century, piracy was flourishing in the waters off the New World. In this Osprey book, author Angus Konstam presents a brief but at times fascinating account of the brutal thieves that cut their way into cultural conscience. Apart from some descriptions of types of ships, dress, flags, and tactics, there are stories of some of the famous pirates (Black Beard, Bonny and Reade, Every, Kidd, Roberts, and others). The illustrations by the late Angus McBride are quite good and add to the book's enjoyment. If you are a person interested in pirates or just this period in history, then sit back with this book and imagine the spray of the sea and the smell of gunpowder that marked a time of danger on the waters (of course piracy has never gone away so still be careful where one sails).

Pirates

I got this book and read all of it today, and found it to be a fine and enjoyable to read introduction to Piracy, focusing on European and Colonial American piracy between 1660 and 1730. The author does point out in his introduction that pirates always have, and always will exist, simply in different forms with different tactics. The author also discusses the fine line between legal or semi-legal privateers, and then the truly criminal pirates, as well the as the roles of women and black sailors. The book discusses the following topics: The Pirate Crew (composition, motivation and dress) Pirate Warfare (tactics) Pirate Dens Pirate Plunder Pirate Captains and Characters (brief descriptions of 9 piratical careers) Pirate ships (inlcuding sloops, schooners, brigantines, and square-riggers) Pirate Codes Pirate Flags Pirate Justice Biblography, plate commentary, and index The book also has 12 pages of full-color paintings by the incomparable Angus McBride, depicting the pirates themselves along with their weapons, victims, flags, and executioners.

The Golden Age of Piracy

This is an Osprey book, so you need to think in terms of an adult version of the Eyewitness picture books. You shouldn't expect an exhaustively comprehensive treatment of the subject, after all they tend to be only 1/4 inch thick. So, with expectations aligned, this is a fairly well done treatment of the subject of pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy. There are quite a few pictures to compliment the text and the topics covered include their origins, dress, tactics, flags, ports and ships. Konstam gives us some brief biographies of a few of the famous names like Teach, Bonny, Reade, Rackam, Vane, Every, Bonnet, Kidd and the Dread Pirate Roberts. An excellent overview suitable for adolescents and adults, for more detail on William Kidd I suggest Richard Zacks' The Pirate Hunter, for more of an overview of piracy through the ages I suggest Konstam's The History of Pirates.

Fantastic Illustrations

Angus Konstam creates a vivid picture of the true history, but the illustrations of Angus McBride steal the show. While the book is full of historic sketches, paintings, and cuttings it is the color plates which capture the look and feel of the "Golden Age of Pirates". The book itself does a marvelous job of debunking some of the "Hollywood Myths" about pirates, but is not quite as thorough as it could be. Konstam's "The History of Pirates" is much more comprehensive as it covers all genres and era of piracy. Overall a terrific buy for anyone interested in the real stories of pirates. The plates are very useful for costume and prop design as well.

AHOY!

This is a great book to anyone interested on this period and in piracy.Angus Konstam's text is both concise and accurate,while Angus McBride's illustrations are certainly some of the best I have ever seen.The book is mostly about British pirates which should be expected,since Osprey is from Great Britain,and British sailors were always inclined towards piratical activities.The sections on pirate warfare and pirate codes are particularly nice,and you get biographies on such pirates as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd as well.The only thing I miss is a color cut-away illustration of a pirate ship.Even though,I must say It's an A+ job from front to back cover.