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The Rise and Fall of the Pirates
‘The Laws of all Nations … define & declare a Pirate to be an Enemy of Mankind … He is perhaps the only Criminal on Earth, whose crime cannot be absolutely pardoned … a Pirate is equally an Enemy and dangerous to all Societies … Piracy is in its self a complication of Treason, Oppression, Murder, Assassination, Robbery and Theft.’
You know what a pirate is. You know how they dress, how they speak. If you think of the word ‘pirate’, you most probably think of black flags and peg legs, cutlasses and cannon, walking the plank and buried treasure. These stereotypes are familiar and entertaining, but they aren’t the whole truth.
Or, perhaps, they were never true at all.
From their origins and identities to their everyday lives and exploits, Enemies of All is a voyage of discovery that investigates piracy’s incredible, and often unrecognised, impact on history. Socially, economically and politically, pirates moulded European empires as they rose to global power in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They shaped our modern world and left behind troubling legacies.
You will never see pirates in the same way again.
‘Bursting with rich detail and swashbuckling narratives, Enemies of All offers a rich and detailed history of Atlantic piracy that is as engaging as it is well researched. Finally an accessible history of Atlantic piracy that puts the facts before the myths!’
Dr David Wilson, Founder of The Problem of Piracy Network,
‘A rollicking and fresh account of the Golden Age of Piracy! Blakemore has added an essential new work to the field of pirate history.’
Dr Rebecca Simon, author of Pirate Queens and The Pirates’ Code,
‘A riveting new history of aquatic ambushes, from the 1600s to today.’
The Economist,
‘Compelling maritime history.’
Kirkus Reviews,
‘... a highly entertaining and comprehensive account on the 'golden age' of piracy, spanning the turbulent years between 1650 to 1730. Illuminating a rough and ready side of history (and its legendary players) with an academic rigour which never loses sight of the human side of the story.’
Blackwell's, bookseller review,
24th May, 2024 in History, Maritime
Pirates and music: I imagine what comes into your head is that haunting refrain from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, or perhaps the soaring chords of an orchestral film score and the thumping rhythm of a sea shanty. Maybe you think of the much later history of ‘pirate r…
19th August, 2019 in Biography & Memoir, Maritime
In 1695 Henry Every, a thirty-six-year-old master mariner from the south coast of Devon, led one of the most powerful pirate crews in history on a short but spectacularly successful cruise in the Red Sea. Their capture of the Grand Moghul’s ship the Gang-i-Sawai was one of the mo…
19th November, 2018 in Maritime
Edward Thache (aka ‘Blackbeard’) met his fate on 22 November 1718 and was thus immortalised as a pirate legend. We take a look at some little known facts about this infamous highwayman of the seas. 1. Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Thache and was likely to have been…
