The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates : Fascinating Facts About the World’s Most Infamous Pirates

Contains fascinating facts about the world's most infamous pirates. Turns vague pirate lore into real pirate history. Part 1. Man builds raft, neighbor steals raft. Pirates of popular culture and ancient history -- The next big surge -- The Spanish Main -- England adds her two pence -- Lady pirates in the British Isles -- Part 2. The sweet trade. Buccaneers : how it all began -- Brethren of the coast -- Bloody buccaneers and daring opportunists -- Weighing anchor : why go to sea? -- Joining a pirate crew -- Life aboard a pirate ship -- Weapons to the ready -- Part 3. The golden age of piracy. Flying the skull and crossbones -- The men who sailed the pirate round -- Pirate-friendly cities and islands -- War, peace, and pirates -- Hunting the scourge of the seven seas -- A colorful cast of characters -- Part 4. The end of piracy? Think again. The end draws near -- Barbary corsairs spread terror -- A new nation's privateers help topple corsairs -- Cutthroats of the south seas. A view of pirate life-from the crow's nest ... Pirate lore has captured our fancy for centuries. Here is the first series book that gives readers a comprehensive yet entertaining history of those swashbuckling brigands. It offers portraits of such infamous men and women as Blackbeard, Captain Anne Bonny, Captain Kidd, and Jean LaFitte, with a full history of pirates through the ages, even modern day, high-tech scavengers of the South China seas. For mateys young and old.