Outlaws of the Atlantic : Sailors, Pirates, and Motley Crews in the Age of Sail

**This maritime history "from below" exposes the history-making power of common sailors, slaves, pirates, and other outlaws at sea in the era of the tall ship.** In __Outlaws of the Atlantic__, award-winning historian Marcus Rediker turns maritime history upside down. He explores the dramatic world of maritime adventure, not from the perspective of admirals, merchants, and nation-states but from the viewpoint of commoners—sailors, slaves, indentured servants, pirates, and other outlaws from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. Bringing together their seafaring experiences for the first time, __Outlaws of the Atlantic__ is an unexpected and compelling peoples’ history of the “age of sail.” With his signature bottom-up approach and insight, Rediker reveals how the “motley”—that is, multiethnic—crews were a driving force behind the American Revolution; that pirates, enslaved Africans, and other outlaws worked together to subvert capitalism; and that, in the era of the tall ship, outlaws challenged authority from below deck. By bringing these marginal seafaring characters into the limelight, Rediker shows how maritime actors have shaped history that many have long regarded as national and landed. And by casting these rebels by sea as cosmopolitan workers of the world, he reminds us that to understand the rise of capitalism, globalization, and the formation of race and class, we must look to the sea. This maritime history "from below" exposes the history-making power of common sailors, slaves, pirates, and other outlaws at sea in the era of the tall ship. Marcus Rediker, preeminent scholar of maritime history, is poised to break new ground with his latest book. In Outlaws of the Atlantic, Rediker turns maritime history upside down, exploring the dramatic world of maritime adventure, not from the perspective of admirals, merchants, and nation-states but from the point of view of commoners'sailors, slaves, indentured servants, pirates, and other outlaws'whose seafaring experiences are brought together for the first time. Rediker shows that oceanic history is crucial to understanding historical processes like the rise of capitalism and the formation of race and class Rediker turns maritime history upside down, exploring the dramatic world of maritime adventure not from the perspective of admirals, merchants, and nation-states but from the viewpoint of commoners: sailors, slaves, indentured servants, pirates, and other outlaws from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. He reveals how the "motley" (i.e. multiethnic) crews were a driving force behind the American Revolution; that pirates, enslaved Africans, and other outlaws worked together to subvert capitalism; and that, in the era of the tall ship, outlaws challenged authority from below deck. The sailor's yarn Edward Barlow, "poor seaman" Henry Pitman, "fugitive traitor" Under the banner of King Death : pirates A motley crew in the American Revolution African rebels : from captives to shipmates "Black pirates" : the Amistad Rebellion, 1839.