The Library & Further Reading
Annotated bibliography of primary source archives, museum collections, and peer-reviewed histories.
A General History of the Pyrates (1724)
By Captain Charles Johnson (Daniel Defoe?)
The foundational 18th-century text containing biographic accounts of Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, and Anne Bonny.
Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age
By Dr. Marcus Rediker (2004)
Essential social history analyzing pirate ships as democratic counter-cultures responding to maritime wage labor exploitation.
The Republic of Pirates
By Colin Woodard (2007)
Detailed narrative history of the Flying Gang in Nassau and the establishment of the Bahamian pirate republic.
Under the Black Flag
By David Cordingly (1995)
Written by the former curator of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, systematically comparing pirate lore to archival records.