Raiders and Rebels: The Golden Age of Piracy

Piracy by European and American ships flourished in the years 16921725, and this absorbing book concentrates on that brief period, an era of such storied figures as Henry Every, Captain William Kidd, Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart). Pirate life released sailors from the brutal oppression of regular merchant ships and national navies, and it was a time when the American colonies fostered piracy by buying stolen cargoes to circumvent Britain's Navigation Act. Sherry, whose avocation is sailing, traces the shifting political alliances that led to privateering, which in turn led to piracy, and show why the center of piratical activity shifted from Madagascar to the Bahamas. His book offers swashing and buckling to please romantics and factual information to satisfy historians. Illustrations not seen by PW. (February 26)