Black Flags, Blue Waters
The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
WW Norton · Print & ebook · September 17, 2019
With surprising tales of vicious mutineers, imperial riches, and high-seas intrigue, Black Flags, Blue Waters is “rumbustious enough for the adventure-hungry” (Peter Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle).
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- Who it’s for
- A brisk, salt-tinged history that makes piracy feel legible, not merely legendary.
- Genres
- Maritime History & Piracy, Colonial America (to 1775), 18th-Century History
- Published
- WW Norton, September 17, 2019
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With surprising tales of vicious mutineers, imperial riches, and high-seas intrigue, Black Flags, Blue Waters is “rumbustious enough for the adventure-hungry” (Peter Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle). Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the surprising history of American piracy’s “Golden Age” - spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s - when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond.
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“Deftly blending scholarship and drama” (Richard Zacks), best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Through engrossing episodes of roguish glamour and extreme brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among them the towering Blackbeard, the ill-fated Captain Kidd, and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Black Flags, Blue Waters is a “tour de force history” (Michael Pierce, Midwestern Rewind) of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the precarious nature of American colonial life.
Pirates, with Context
A brisk, salt-tinged history that makes piracy feel legible, not merely legendary.
Come here for
- maritime history with a readable sweep
- pirates in their historical, not cartoon, element
Expect
- clear-eyed context
- steady narrative momentum
Where it sits
| Maritime History & Piracy | 96% |
|---|---|
| Colonial America (to 1775) | 89% |
| 18th-Century History | 26% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Colonial America (to 1775)
- 17th-Century History
- 18th-Century History
- Authors
- Eric Jay Dolin, Paul Brion, HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
- Publisher
- WW Norton
- Published
- September 17, 2019
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Colonial America (to 1775)