The republic of pirates

Like most boys I've always liked pirates, but I never really knew much about them.
The Republic of Pirates describes the rise, peak and ending of the Golden Age of Pirating in the America's.

The tale features all your favorite pirates, some political intrigue and many naval battles.

It just never mentions: "shiver me timbers"

It does feature this cool quote:
“I am a free Prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world as he who has a hundred ships at sea and an army of 100,000 men in the field."
-Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy”

A well-read audiobook. Very interesting stories though I don't know if it succeeds in its introductory thesis. I didn't know much about pirates beyond what's in popular culture, and this seems to pretty good overview of the most notable pirates of this time.

A page turner, which is a bit of a feat for a history book, even if it is about pirates. The beginning of the book with the overview of the life of a sailor is one of the more fascinating parts, but the lives of the pirates is the meat of this work. Following, more or less, three of the more important figures of the era and the man who ended up taking them down the book never really has a dull moment.
Highly recommended.

While it picks up some steam at the end, this book was a bit of a disappointment. It was obviously well-researched, but the author seemed to include every available detail (cargo manifests, etc.), making the text dryer than it need have been. The author's habit of providing names for seemingly every historical figure whose name is recorded also made the book difficult to follow. The reader has no way of knowing whether a given individual is important and liable to return, or a semi-anonymous "extra" who could be dismissed safely. Some editorial restraint would've aided the readability. For people interested in non-fiction work about pirates, I'd recommend instead "Empire of Blue Water" or "If a Pirate I Must Be."