Pirate Books

There are no shortage of books about pirates, or books with pirates, or books written by pirates.  As long as the world keeps reading and writing books about pirates, I suppose there always will be huge supply.  Below are some links on where you can get yourself some books about pirates.

 

 

Books

Pirateology

Recommended by Captain William.  I own this book and quite enjoy it.  It has tons of information that is presented in a way you won't find in any other place.

Similar in format to Matthews' Pirates (2006), this large tome professes to be the journal of Captain William Lubber, an early-eighteenth-century pirate hunter. Lubber unfolds the story of Arabella Drummond as he chases her ship around the world. Besides his notes and reflections, the large parchmentlike pages are filled, scrapbook style, with pictures of various pirates and ships, maps of islands, and information on topics such as navigational charts, pirate flags, and sailors' knots. Several artists contribute a profusion of handsome illustrations, including maps, shaded pencil drawings with a period look, and colored-pencil drawings of pirates in action. Many double-page spreads include an interactive element. With a compass set into the front of the book and a large red jewel set into the back, this has tactile appeal as well as plenty of information for vicarious buccaneers. Earlier volumes in the series include Dragonology (2003) and Wizardology(2005). Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

How I became a Pirate

This is a children's book, but I still would recommend it. 

Young Jeremy Jacob is plucked from obscurity while innocently constructing a sand castle and is thrust into a brand-new life as a pirate. Captain Braid Beard and his crew recognize Jeremy as an exceptionally talented digger and they happen to be in desperate need of a digger to help them bury a treasure chest. Jeremy thinks a pirate life sounds like fun, as long as he’s back the next day in time for soccer practice, and so he goes along with the ragtag group of seafaring thugs (with hearts of gold, naturally). And while Jeremy adores the pirates’ lack of table manners and opposition to vegetables, he comes to realize that a life away from his parents lacks some of the niceties to which he’s become accustomed. Nobody tucks him in at night, for instance, and the only book available to read is a treasure map. Melinda Long’s story, narrated with a sense of boastful exaggeration by Jeremy, is full of a sense of high adventure that's lovingly evocative of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tales. David Shannon's illustrations, full of a goofy vibrancy, are a perfect accompaniment to the story. (Ages 4 to 8) --John Moe

Treasure Island

The definitive Pirate Fiction.  It is a classic, and for good reason.  This book is a great tale.

Climb aboard for the swashbuckling adventure of a lifetime. Treasure Island has enthralled (and caused slight seasickness) for decades. The names Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins are destined to remain pieces of folklore for as long as children want to read Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous book. With it's dastardly plot and motley crew of rogues and villains, it seems unlikely that children will ever say no to this timeless classic. --Naomi Gesinger

 

 

The Pirate Coast

 

The author of The Pirate Hunter, which made Captain Kidd come to life, focuses here more broadly on a piracy hot spot. Resolved to stop the enslavement of American merchant sailors by North African nations, Jefferson deployed most of the infant U.S. Navy to the Mediterranean and sent a column of troops overland from Egypt to place the pasha of Tripoli's brother Hamet on the throne in 1801. The leader of that motley array of mercenaries, Muslim tribesmen, Hamet's retainers and a handful of U.S. Marines was the colorful and combative William Eaton, who led them more than 500 miles across the desert to "the shores of Tripoli." By the time he arrived, peace negotiations were underway, in the hands of one Tobias Deane, who was neither honest nor competent. Eaton had to abandon Hamet and was in turn virtually abandoned by the Jefferson administration, leaving him with a mountain of debt and a drinking problem that eventually killed him at 47. There has been a dearth of good material on the Barbary War and particularly on Eaton's trek; Zacks has researched thoroughly, writes entertainingly and shows a knack for sea stories and characterization. This is the book that Captain Eaton has long deserved. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PIRATES

 This book combines Elite 67: ‘Pirates 1660-1730’, Elite 69: ‘Buccaneers 1620-1700’ and Elite 74: ‘Privateers and Pirates 1730-1830’. Text by Angus Konstam, plates by Angus McBride. This book tells, in beautifully illustrated detail, the full story of piracy from its origins in the 16th century to the last great piratical wave in the early 19th century. It explores the lives of well-known buccaneers who carried out their raids under the protection of the English crown and the privateers that were relied on by the American Navy during the American Revolution to disrupt British shipping between England and the rebellious colonies. Other subjects covered include the ships, weaponry used, codes of behaviour and the lives of the colourful characters that roamed the high seas searching for plunder.

PIRATE SOUL

Journey through the Golden Age of Piracy (1690–1730) with one of the foremost pirate-artifact collectors and authorities. Inside this deluxe interactive adventure you’ll find engaging authoritative text on all facets of pirate life and history, complemented by fantastic full-color art and over 30 fun and fascinating three-dimensional features. This one-of-a-kind book-plus includes a working period compass, a replica authentic jolly roger, a fold-out treasure map, pieces of eight, period playing cards, a flask of "gunpowder," a cat-o’-nine-tails, Henry Every’s 1696 Wanted poster, and much more!

100 full-color illustrations and photographs
30 interactive 3-D features
Includes Authentic full-size removable Jolly Roger!

Under the Black Flag

I recommend this book as well.  It's a welcomed addition to my bookshelf.

  Though literature, films, and folklore have romanticized pirates as gallant seaman who hunted for treasure in exotic locales, David Cordingly, a former curator at the National Maritime Museum in England, reveals the facts behind the legends of such outlaws as Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, and Calico Jack. Even stories about buried treasure are fictitious, he says, yet still the myth remains. Though pirate captains were often sadistic villains and crews endured barbarous tortures, were constantly threatened with the possibility of death by hanging, drowning in a storm, or surviving a shipwreck on a hostile coast, pirates are still idealized. Cordingly examines why the myth of the romance of piratehood endures and why so few lived out their days in luxury on the riches they had plundered.

Pirate dictionary

 We hear the terms "steer clear of," "hit the deck," "don’t rock the boat," and to "harbor a grudge" and give little thought to their origin. Left together on ships for months, and often for years, pirate crews developed expressions that made their way into common usage. Terms for things related to life at sea became idioms used by land lubbers, a term derived from the holes in the platforms surrounding the mast that allowed sailors to avoid climbing the rigging around the platforms. A lubber was someone who was very clumsy, so a land lubber is someone who knows nothing about sailing and rigging.

Centuries ago, men wore wigs of length denoting their wealth and importance. Soon, many naval captains, including Sir Henry Morgan and Captain Chaloner Ogle, who killed Black Bart Roberts, began to adopt the style. A law was passed in England declaring that only nobility, judges, and bishops could wear full-length wigs and so was born the term bigwig.

Reading through these words and phrases is an abbreviated trip through history, with lists of major naval mutinies, a summary of the slave trade, and even jokes. This dictionary is written to be entertaining as well as informative, to give a flavor of the interesting times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries when pirates controlled many sea lanes. It also contains a treasure trove of factual information about life aboard the ship, important pirate haunts, and technical terms.

Pirate Hunter

  William Kidd is remembered as one of history's greatest pirates, and thousands of people have searched in vain for the treasure he supposedly left buried on a desert island. In this fascinating work of historical revisionism, Zacks argues that in fact Kidd was a privateer, commissioned by the British Crown to hunt down pirates. But his mutinous crew was dissatisfied with the slim pickings of buccaneer-hunting, and Kidd himself inadvertently fell afoul of the powerful East India Company, which tarred him as a criminal. Instead of being acclaimed a national hero, he died on the gallows, in 1701. Zacks's detective work here is thoroughly convincing. In addition, he sets the suspenseful tale of Kidd's downfall within its larger historical context, in a manner reminiscent, at times, of Defoe, vividly illustrating the brutalities of life on a seagoing vessel and the chaos of urban society at the end of the seventeenth century.

A General History of the Pyrates

Immensely readable history by the author of Robinson Crusoe incorporates the author's celebrated flair for journalistic detail, and represents the major source of information about piracy in the early 18th century. Defoe recounts the daring and bloody deeds of such outlaws as Edward Teach (alias Blackbeard), Captain Kidd, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, many others.

 

 

 

 

 

Pirate of the Month

The Pirate of the Month is Sir Henry Morgan

Sir Henry Morgan wasn't an Actual Pirate at all.  He was a Welsh privateer, who made a name in the Caribbean as a leader of buccaneers. He was among England's most notorious and successful privateers.