How did we come to picture pirates donning peg legs, wearing eye patches, and burying treasure? This audiobook features biographies of the notorious buccaneers of the Golden Age of Piracy, and the history, stories, and legends that surround them.
Published under the name Captain Charles Johnson, and widely believed to be authored by Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe, A General History of the Pyrates details the lives of Blackbeard, Black Bart, Anne Bonny, Edward Teach, Mary Read, Jolly Roger, Calico Jack, and many more.
Not only was this book the source of many of our present-day concepts of pirate culture, it also served as an influence for authors of pirate fiction, including Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie.
Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations.He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts and was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him. Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals — on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism.