Villains of All Nations is a people's history of piracy — a history that emphasizes how common seamen who turned pirate built for themselves, beneath the Jolly Roger, a multicultural, democratic, and egalitarian society. This social history of Atlantic piracy focuses on its colourful "Golden Age," from 1716 to 1726. This infamous generation featured the dreaded black flag, the Jolly Roger, as well as swashbuckling figures such as Edward Teach, better known, of course, as "Blackbeard." These "outcasts of all nations" imagined — and succeeded in forging — a better world than they had found on the merchant and naval ships on which they had previously worked: for instance, they democratically elected their officers, they divided their booty in egalitarian ways, and also fought against the vicious abuse of sailors common to their day. Marcus Rediker argues that the historical truth about what pirates actually did proves more compelling than the romantic fiction that has grown up around them.

Contents

One: A Tale of Two Terrors

Two: The Political Arithmetic of Piracy

Three: Who Will Go "A Pyrating"?

Four: "The New Government of the Ship"

Five: "To Do Justice to Sailors"

Six: The Women Pirates: Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Seven: "To Extirpate Them out of the World"

Eight: "Defiance of Death Itself"

Conclusion: Blood and Gold

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index