The Pirate Hunter [MP3 CD - UNABRIDGED]

Rating:
Summary: Great Subject - Okay Writing
Review: This is a fascinating subject - what's the real story of Captain Kidd? I was so excited to get this book - and disappointed in the writing style. Mr. Zacks writing is factual, but unfortunately he jumps around and is not engaging to the reader. Read it if you must find all the details -- but for the overall story -- Stick with "Under the Black Flag", "The Pyrates" by Daniel Dafoe and "The Pirates own book".

Rating:
Summary: Puts you right in the thick of it! ARRR
Review: This is a great summer book. Fun to read and good subject. Lots of information that somehow was left out of our history class in school. If you ever played pirates as a kid, or enjoy history, you will like this book. Well done.

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: This is a great summer book. Fun to read and good subject. Lots of information that somehow was left out of our history class in school. If you ever played pirates as a kid, or enjoy history, you will like this book. Well done.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much
Review: This is a tremendously researched book. Mr. Zachs obviously pored over thousands of pages of material - unfortunately, he had a difficcult time culling what was not relevant enough to add to the book. He simply included too much material.

This is the story of Captain Kidd - pirate or not? Mr. Zachs is persuasive that Kidd was not a pirate but a privateer with a commission from the King's highest confidantes. Mr. Zachs tracks Kidd on his privateering journey along with that of a pirate living a parallel career named Culliver. The juxtaposition of the two is well done. Kidd - honorable to a fault, and to a noose - fights becoming a pirate. Culliver, on the other hand, lives the pirate's life throughout, avoids the noose and walks off with a fortune in ill-gained booty.

Th problem I had with this book is that Mr. Zachs included sooo many details that the forest was often lost for the trees. There were constant recitations of cargo statistics and individual's shares of booty. These were detailed to the last bale of cloth and last piece of eight. He carried these detailed recitations to journeys of other ships only very tangentially related to the theme.

I wish Mr. Zach's had left out a few hundred statistics relating to cargo and focused more on the broad picture. He gave short shrift to how the backers of the mission avoided the scandal of being associated to Kidd and how England had been turned against the man.

If you want a well-detailed and well-researched tome about piracy and Kidd this is the book for you. If you want a clear picture of the forces driving Kidd and his eventual demise, you have to work too hard with this book to get it. I would only recommend this book to those who are deeply into piracy and its history.

Rating:
Summary: a bawdy, dubious history
Review: While bawdiness was characteristic of the time and element which are the subject here, this author has gotten a bit too swept-up in the spirit - the distasteful commentary is unnecessary and incessant, and detracts severely from the book. Secondly, he simultaneously acknowledges that there is a scarcity of reliable historic information regarding the subject at hand, yet presents here a greatly detailed account, which leads to the conclusion that most of his story is contrived speculation.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Zack's well-researched account of the famous fall of William Kidd, and the parallel course of actual pirate Robert Culliford, makes for excellent reading and will change the way you think about Kidd. For most readers, William Kidd was a notorious, blood-thirsty pirate who allegedly buried large stashes of treasure. In fact, after examining many original sources, Zacks reveals that Kidd was actually a gentleman and well-financed mercenary, a man outfitted by leading merchants of the late 17th century to seek out and steal from pirates themselves. It is touching to read about Kidd's confidence that his backers would support him, and his belief that the truth would come out if he was ever tried as a pirate.

By contrast, Culliford is a despicable rogue, leading Kidd's crew to mutiny on more than one occassion, and whose luck never seemed to run out even as he was captured and jailed as a pirate in London. Zacks sometimes alternates chapters between Kidd and Culliford, detailing the public hysteria over Captain Kidd, despite his honorable deeds and charter to hunt down pirates, while the rogue Culliford gets away with much more.

Ultimately the biggest villain of the book has to be the legal authorities in London, who railroad Kidd and conveniently lose the most important documents for his defense, consisting of French passes which made Kidd's capture of two Moorish vessels legal spoils of war. Kidd wastes away in solitary confinement with no formal charges against him for months, in despicable conditions at Newgate prison.

Overall, I thought this book did a very admirable job of portraying pirate life in great detail. We learn what they wore, how they traded for goods with shady merchants in places like Madagascar, and how discipline was meted out. I for one was also suprised by the "democratic" way in which decisions were made on pirate ships - captains did not hold as much authority as commonly believed. I was likewise surprised to learn how supposedly greedy buccaneers would seek out the widows of slain comrades to deliver their "shares" of the plunder. All in all, I was very impressed with The Pirate Hunter, and after skimming Zacks' sources (including the original commissions and letters reprinted in the pages of this book), it is tough to challenge any of his conclusions. A first-rate read.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Research; Well Presented
Review: Zacks has sifted through thousands of documents to distill the Truth. It is stranger than fiction! A riveting read and incredible glimpse into life during the modern but pre-industrial past.

Rating:
Summary: History turned around.
Review: Zacks' Pirate Hunter is a lively account of the story of Captain Kidd. This book is hard to put down as it reads like an adventure novel. Captain Kidd is a pirate hunter who through assorted events gets branded a pirate and is hunted and tried for piracy. Meanwhile his adversary Robert Culliford who is a true pirate comes out almost smelling like a rose! This is an excellent telling of this true pirate story. This book is recommended for anyone who enjoys a good adventure yarn!