The Republic of Pirates - Colin Woodard

Published as an audiobook by Blackstone Audio Inc., 14-08-2015.
Narrated by Lewis Grenville.
Originally published 2007.

This book, subtitled Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down, is fairly accurately titled! We get a history of piracy in the Caribbean, as well as a look at some of the events and individuals that inspired the Caribbean pirates - learning, as an example, of the pirate stronghold of Madagascar. The 'republic' of the title is the town of Nassau on the island of New Providence, where a pirate society of sorts existed for quite some time.

The book is full of fascinating information, and doubles as a biography of the most prominent pirates, including Charles Vane, Henry Avery, and Blackbeard (Edward Thatch). Each pirate's individual personality and goals come across well, with Vane easily the most violent of the main pirates. Some moments surprise, such as when one of the most successful pirates is killed by simply having his ship come apart in a storm, or when one marooned pirate becomes the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, while others are interesting for being true, such as when Blackbeard attempts to go 'semi-legitimate' and simply buys off a local governor. 

Being a true history rather than a fictionalised one, some storylines are cut short, and there are less epic stand offs than Hollywood might like, but the instances mentioned are still incredible - one pirate gets shot through the face and survives! 

Lewis Grenville's deep-voiced narration lends the right level of gravitas to the proceedings as well.

Worth checking out.

Completed 17 November 2023.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Various Picture Books

Image
As I said in my review of Peter Rabbit's Storytime Collection , I am wanting to find a way to acknowledge the books I read to Ezekiel without adding individual picture books to my reading list - I feel that would dilute it a bit much. So in this post, I've decided to look at a group of picture books all together. I've picked five picture books that I like (with a notable and noteworthy exception), and also asked Elise for five picture books she is  enjoying reading to Ezekiel. It's interesting (and helpful for this list) that our lists haven't overlapped at all this time around. So, here are ten picture books (plus one bonus 'book') that Ezekiel has been exposed to in the first 7ish months of his life: Karl's List Bunnies on the Bus - Philip Ardagh and (illustrator) Ben Mantle. Published by Walker Books Ltd: London, 2020 (2019). This is one of my favourites among our current picture books. A group of bunnies hijack a bus and hurtle through the town on th
Read more

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Image
Published by Allen & Unwin: Crows Nest, NSW, Australia, 2008. Book snobs, block your ears. *whispers* I think the movie was better. Okay, book snobs, you can unblock your ears now. *waves to get the attention of book snobs* To be honest, a huge reason why I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at this moment in time was that I thought it would be funny to have two books with ridiculously long titles appear back-to-back in my list. For anyone who thought that there were super-deep reasons why I picked the books that I did, I hope this helps you see the error of your ways. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which I am refusing to shorten for the rest of this review) still tells the same story as that in the movie adaptation (also called  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ), but does so in a less gripping (though still interesting) manner. This is for a few reasons: firstly,  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book is e
Read more

Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson

Image
Published by Tom Doherty Associates Books/TOR Fantasy: New York, 2014. Book 2 in 'The Stormlight Archives' series. Preceded by ' The Way of Kings .' Followed by (spin-off) ' Edgedancer ' and (main series) ' Oathbringer. ' Well, I finally read the second Stormlight book, this one even longer than the last  at a whopping 1080 pages, and once again found myself enjoying Sanderson's world immensely. The plot does take longer than strictly necessary in places - particularly in the storyline following Shallan Davar as she journeys towards the Shattered Plains - but overall is still a page-turner. By the middle of Words of Radiance our three main characters (Kaladin, Shallan and Adolin) are finally in the same location, something that was never achieved in the first book. In keeping them apart for so long, Sanderson is able to give his readers a real understanding of what makes each character tick, and this becomes quite interesting as when these character
Read more