Rating: 
Summary: Pirates from ancient raiders to modern guerillas
Review: Angus Konstam takes us through a general history of piracy on the seas, from the ancient raiders of Babylonia and Greece to the modern-day guerillas in speedboats armed with AK-47 assault rifles in the south China Sea. Each chapter is well illustrated with period paintings and photographs, with particular focus on the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 16th and 17th century when galleons and merchant brigs carried gold, jewels, sugar, cotton, and rum from the Spanish Main to the American colonies and Europe.Well written and easy to read, each page is printed on glossy paper and clean typeface, with illustrations to help convey the mood of the book. Its an entertaining history of piracy (and if a book isn't entertaining, then why read it?). It may not have the depth of some of the more scholastically-oriented books available, but this book is a good place to start when building your library. Overall, a good book to have around.
Rating:
Summary: Pirates from ancient raiders to modern guerillas
Review: Angus Konstam takes us through a general history of piracy on the seas, from the ancient raiders of Babylonia and Greece to the modern-day guerillas in speedboats armed with AK-47 assault rifles in the south China Sea. Each chapter is well illustrated with period paintings and photographs, with particular focus on the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 16th and 17th century when galleons and merchant brigs carried gold, jewels, sugar, cotton, and rum from the Spanish Main to the American colonies and Europe. Well written and easy to read, each page is printed on glossy paper and clean typeface, with illustrations to help convey the mood of the book. Its an entertaining history of piracy (and if a book isn't entertaining, then why read it?). It may not have the depth of some of the more scholastically-oriented books available, but this book is a good place to start when building your library. Overall, a good book to have around.
Rating: 
Summary: a very good read
Review: anyone interested in the colorful history of the privateers and piarates will enjoy this well researched book
Rating: 
Summary: Except for the "Chinaman" reference on p. 173, it was o.k.
Review: I don't care if that's how Chinese were referred to back then, try substituting any hateful racial reference for that word and see how it reads.
Rating:
Summary: A great survey of pirates -- Historical and Hollywood.
Review: Published in association with the Mariners' Museum in Virginia and use maps, photos and color illustrations throughout to make for histories which are lively and probing, History Of Pirates covers the reality of pirates, comparing this reality to traditional Hollywood myths and surveying both early and modern pirating history around the world.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have Book for any Pirate Enthusiast
Review: The History of Pirates by Angus Konstam is a must have book for any pirate enthusiast. It spans the entire history of piracy, although not to any great depth, and it uses some of the best pictures and art work I have seen. This is a perfect coffee table book as suggested by some other reviewers, and it serves that purpose very well.
I could not more strongly recommend this book, what a great read! If you enjoy this book and you are interested in other pirate related books, movies and games, visit me at my website: Http://www.thefist.org
Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource
Review: The scope of this book is very wide. It covers the history of piracy from the ancient world until the modern age. The bulk of the material, however, covers the golden age of piracy in the Carribean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The format of the book is very large with full color pictures on every page. Basically it's a coffee table book. The color pictures definitely stir the imagination. Fan of pirate lore and fans of the recent movie "Pirates of the Carribean" will be pleased to read this. My only complaint is that the text is a little light. Even famous pirates such as Blackbeard and Captain Morgan only get two pages each. I realize that some text space had to be sacrificed for all the color pictures, but I was hoping for a little more information. If you're interested in pictures or if you aren't such a heavy reader, this will be a great book for you. If you would like something a little meatier, perhaps another book is for you. I do think this is an excellent source for pictures of pirates though.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource
Review: The scope of this book is very wide. It covers the history of piracy from the ancient world until the modern age. The bulk of the material, however, covers the golden age of piracy in the Carribean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The format of the book is very large with full color pictures on every page. Basically it's a coffee table book. The color pictures definitely stir the imagination. Fan of pirate lore and fans of the recent movie "Pirates of the Carribean" will be pleased to read this. My only complaint is that the text is a little light. Even famous pirates such as Blackbeard and Captain Morgan only get two pages each. I realize that some text space had to be sacrificed for all the color pictures, but I was hoping for a little more information. If you're interested in pictures or if you aren't such a heavy reader, this will be a great book for you. If you would like something a little meatier, perhaps another book is for you. I do think this is an excellent source for pictures of pirates though.
Rating:
Summary: A great study of the politics of piracy
Review: This book, although not perfect, should be included in every pirate scholar's library. Rather than just focusing on the "Golden Age" pirates of the early 18th century, THE HISTORY OF PIRATES examines piracy from the moment man started to travel by water to modern day piracy. It's well-written, well-researched, and well-designed. Read about ancient pirates who terrorized Greece and Rome, Vikings who led a rampage throughout Dark Age Europe, Barbary corsairs who virtually ruled the Medditerrain Sea until the Knights of Malta provided formidable counterparts, the buccaneers who mercilessly plundered the territory of the hated Spanish and gave birth to the succeeding "Golden Age" generation. Also, you'll see how governments have used legalized pirates (privateers) since ancient times. Before there were mean streets, there were mean seas. Life at sea was brutal and unforgiving. These were not glamorous "swashbucklers," but ruthless men who came from a world where life was cheap and one man's freedom was gained by violating the rights of others. In my opinion, the most interesting of these characters were: Henry Morgan, the buccaneer who was officially known as a privateer because of his British sympathies but whose illegal, corrupt campaigns can be classified as regular piracy. And also Bartholemew Roberts, who was the most brutal and prolific of the "Golden Age" pirates. I wish Konstam would go into more detail about the situations of disgruntled merchants & slavers (like Bartholemew Roberts) and escaped slaves who joined pirate crews for a better life, to shed a more human light on them, but I guess that's just a personal interest of mine. I also object to the inclusion of the overrated David Cordingly, but he's just in the inroduction, and doesn't ruin the book at all. That, and didn't Blackbeard carry six pistols rather than three? Oh well, these are just minor complaints. Just about everything you wanted to know about piratacy is in here. I'd also recommend the accounts by Alexander Exquemlin (a former buccaneer who tells his story), Captain Johnson (to know all about Golden Age pirates, but don't get the Cordingly-edited version), and Eyewitness books (designed for younger readers, but surprisingly more informative than most pirate books). Along with those books, this is a mandatory study of plunder on the high seas.
Rating:
Summary: A great study of the politics of piracy
Review: This book, although not perfect, should be included in every pirate scholar's library. Rather than just focusing on the "Golden Age" pirates of the early 18th century, THE HISTORY OF PIRATES examines piracy from the moment man started to travel by water to modern day piracy. It's well-written, well-researched, and well-designed. Read about ancient pirates who terrorized Greece and Rome, Vikings who led a rampage throughout Dark Age Europe, Barbary corsairs who virtually ruled the Medditerrain Sea until the Knights of Malta provided formidable counterparts, the buccaneers who mercilessly plundered the territory of the hated Spanish and gave birth to the succeeding "Golden Age" generation. Also, you'll see how governments have used legalized pirates (privateers) since ancient times. Before there were mean streets, there were mean seas. Life at sea was brutal and unforgiving. These were not glamorous "swashbucklers," but ruthless men who came from a world where life was cheap and one man's freedom was gained by violating the rights of others. In my opinion, the most interesting of these characters were: Henry Morgan, the buccaneer who was officially known as a privateer because of his British sympathies but whose illegal, corrupt campaigns can be classified as regular piracy. And also Bartholemew Roberts, who was the most brutal and prolific of the "Golden Age" pirates. I wish Konstam would go into more detail about the situations of disgruntled merchants & slavers (like Bartholemew Roberts) and escaped slaves who joined pirate crews for a better life, to shed a more human light on them, but I guess that's just a personal interest of mine. I also object to the inclusion of the overrated David Cordingly, but he's just in the inroduction, and doesn't ruin the book at all. That, and didn't Blackbeard carry six pistols rather than three? Oh well, these are just minor complaints. Just about everything you wanted to know about piratacy is in here. I'd also recommend the accounts by Alexander Exquemlin (a former buccaneer who tells his story), Captain Johnson (to know all about Golden Age pirates, but don't get the Cordingly-edited version), and Eyewitness books (designed for younger readers, but surprisingly more informative than most pirate books). Along with those books, this is a mandatory study of plunder on the high seas.
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