The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down - Softcover

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9781447243939: The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1447243935 ISBN 13: 9781447243939

Publisher: Pan Books, 1600

Paperback. Pub Date :2014-01-16 Pages: 336 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins In the early eighteenth century a number of the great pirate captains. including Edward Blackbeard Teach and Black Sam Bellamy. joined forces This infamous Flying Gang was more. than simply a thieving band of brothers. Many of its members had come to piracy as a revolt against conditions in the merchant fleet and in the cities and plantations in the Old and New Worlds. Inspired by notions of self-government. they established a crude but distinctive form of democracy in the Bahamas. carving out their own zone of freedom in which indentured servants were released and leaders chosen or deposed by a vote. They were ultimately overcome by their archnemesis. Captain Woodes Rogers-a merchant fleet owner and former privateer - and the brief but glorious Republic of Pirates came to an end.Colin Wood...

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Book Description:

Published in hardcover by Harcourt, 2007, 978-0-15-101302-9/0-15-101302-0

From the Back Cover:

"It's a rollicking tale, filled with rich details of the lives of men who, for their own personal gain, challenged the spread of empires."--Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Captains like Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane rallied with their fellow pirates to create the "Flying Gang," thus establishing The Pirate Republic-- a crude, distinctive, and all-too-brief democracy in the Bahamas. Indentured servants became free, blacks and runaway slaves could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by vote.

In cutting off trade routes, sacking slave ships, and severing Europe from its New World, the Pirate Republic shook the very foundations of imperialism and fanned democratic sentiments that would one day drive the American Revolution. They became heroes in the eyes of the people and, in this, their untold story, their glorious Republic lives again.

"The Republic of the Pirates" is the ultimate in beach reading - breezy, colorful, and rich in history and action."--Christian Science Monitor

"[A]n entrancing tale of piracy colored with gold, treachery and double-dealing."--Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

COLIN WOODARD is an award-winning journalist. The author of The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier and Ocean’s End: Travels Through Endangered Seas, he is also a foreign correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He lives in Portland, Maine. Contact him at www.republicofpirates.net.

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