Rating: 
Summary: If you only ever read one thing about pirates, this is it
Review: I've never been overly interested in pirates but I heard Cordingly interviewed and was impressed by his grasp of the topic. I figured if I was ever going to read a book on pirates, this likely would be the one to read. I was right! Cordingly has done an incredibly thorough job of reviewing the vast literature on pirates. His book is exhaustive and compelling .... characters such as Captain Kidd and Blackbeard come to life and the reader comes away with a real sense of the myths and realities - often chilling - of where pirates fit in history. If you only ever read one thing about pirates, this is the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Aarrr! Good tale of pirates, if a little disorganized
Review: Whenever historical figures such as pirates are so common in popular culture, I often wonder how accurate the representation is. This book engagingly answers these questions. Not surprisingly, there is some truth to the modern image of a pirate. For example, they often dressed with scarfs, lots of guns, and even kept parrots as pets. On the other hand, they were largely brutal criminals, not jovial, romantic figures usually portrayed in stories. With such a fragmentary history, the big challenge is to present a coherent picture of pirate history. Cordingly doesn't always pull this off. I found the book disorganized in places, and some of the chapters have fairly loose threads holding the material together. A lot of the excursions into analyzing popular culture are not particularly insightful, and interfere with the strength of the book, telling the story of pirates. Overall, a fun and interesting read on a criminal class that is well recognized, if not well known.
Rating:
Summary: Aaargh, shiver me timbers, matey!
Review: UNDER THE BLACK FLAG is the perfect read for anyone who, as a kid, dressed up as a one-eyed pirate and went around waving a cardboard cutlass saying, "Aaargh, speak up bilge rat; where be the treasure?" Or anyone who enters company staff meetings with, "Ahoy tharr, scurvy dogs, shark meat ya'll be." Or, "Are ya feeling lucky, punk?" (Well, perhaps that last is from a more recent era.) Since he's writing for Western audiences, Author David Cordingly focuses on the pirates, buccaneers, and corsairs of European background, who infested the waters of the Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries. The book's twelve chapters reveal everything you've ever wanted to know about swashbuckling pirates and piracy: the ships, pirate flags, buried treasure, recruitment, plunderings, pirate violence, famous captains (e.g. Kidd, Blackbeard, Morgan, Rackam, Vane, Roberts), women pirates, pirates' women, pirate life on land and sea, marooning, walking the plank, pirate islands and haunts, pirates in the media (books, stage plays, films), pirate trials and executions, wooden legs and, yes, parrots. Upon finishing UNDER THE BLACK FLAG, I tried to think of a reason not to award five stars, and couldn't. The volume is extensively researched, well organized, written with the popular audience in mind, eminently instructive, and not without humor. Sixteen pages of photographs complement the text. If you're interested in the topic, I can't recommend it too highly. Aaargh! By the way, what does "shiver me timbers" mean, anyway?
Rating:
Summary: A history book for everyone....
Review: "Under the Black Flag" fits neatly into a large gap in "pirate literature" between the books intended for the younger readers and those that are filled with facts, scholarly disertations, and are, in general, dry as dust. David Cordingly makes his book informative, entertaining and best of all...easily readable. He attempts to explain the romance we attach to these men (and women) and does that as well as anyone I have read, using as examples those two famous fictional pirates, Long John Silver and Captain Hook and them comparing them to the reality of what pirates were really like. The myths of buried treasure are dealt with and by listing some actual "pirate plunder" (in one case consisting of a load of cod and some rope)demonstates that, in most cases, there was little to BE buried. Yes there were large treaures taken but for the most part very very rare,and the list of pirates executed at the end of the book shows graphically what their usual fate was....Altogether one of the best, if not the best, introduction to those times available.
Rating:
Summary: Under the Black Flag & Loving It
Review: I really loved this book! It was so detailed and gave exclusive accounts of pirates stealing from pirates and of how they had trials, and were executed, marooned, tortured, fought in battle, and anything you could think of. Cordingly explained things so easily and in great detail that he kept you reading and wanting to know more. It was non stop action and of course some romance, but most importantly Cordingly told the facts, and not made up stories.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Overview on the History of Western Piracy
Review: Throughout history, pirates have been the scourge of the seas. Attacking helpless ships laden with cargo while flying the infamous skull & crossbones flag is imbedded in our consciusness as cowboys with their distinctive hats riding freely on the prairie. "Under the Black Flag: The Romance & the Reality of Life among the Pirates" bridges the gap between myth & reality by describing the lives & experiences of these most despiseful but fascinating of men. David Cordingly, author of several works on maritime history, narrates in clear & simple prose the workings of a subculture which terrorized nations in a short period of time & passed on into legend. Many of the important subjects related to piracy are touched on: why some men ( & a few women ) turned to piracy; their times & the social conditions they lived in; how pirate ships looked & functioned; how pirates fought; what they wore; where they rested & refitted; how they acquired & spent their loot; how they treated victims; how they were punished by the authorities; how society saw them; how they created a system of democracy in a time of marked class divisions; & how their time ended; etc.
Tales of the famous & infamous abound in this book. The daring & succesful Henry Morgan, who sacked prominent Spanish cities in the Caribbean & became the most successful buccaneer of all time. The theatrical & monstrous Blackbeard, who lighted incendiary objects hung from below his hat to give him a fiendish look in battle. The diabolic L'Ollonais, who cut the heart out of live victims & ate it in front of horrified prisoners & crewmen. The famous Captain Kidd, with the legends of hidden treasure & a highly publicised trial which uncovered the backdoor politics of the time. Calico Jack & his consorts Anne Bonny & Mary Read provide perhaps the strangest & most distinctive tale in these bloodstained annals. Pirates from the Orient are briefly touched on, like the unique Mrs. Cheng, who commanded thousands of pirates & dominated the China seas for a short period during the early 19th-Century. The author quotes from famous works like Exquemelin's "The Buccaneer's of America", Daniel Defoe's "A General History of Pyrates", & the logbooks of sea captains, official records, & eyewitness accounts.
One gets the feeling of superficiality in the book, a sense that the work could have been more comprehensive. Further details could have added more depth to the chapters.
Informative & well-written, "Under the Black Flag" is a commendable history on a livelihood of crime that thrived & peaked centuries ago. Read & understand what made these people tick & whose legacy lives on to our time.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, they really carried all those pistols
Review: This is an excellent overview of the pirates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who sailed mainly in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean. A fair amount of documentary and eyewitness evidence survives, so Cordingly is able to tell a largely complete story about these (mostly) men, their way of life, their habits and speech, and their private wars on commerce. He interlaces this social history throughout with the details and personalities which have made a romantic world of this place and time, like Captain Bartholomew Roberts's last fight off the Guinea coast, and Blackbeard's wearing of lit firecrackers in his facial hair. Cordingly even tosses in some history about the world of fictional pirates, in song, book, and film. It's surprising to realize how few pirates there were, and for how short a period they operated. Compared to the constant piracy of Malaysia and South China, this was a small, ragged, and short-lived occupation, yet there are few fictional archetypes more firmly ensconced in the English language. Oh well. Arr.
Rating:
Summary: The smell of burning merchantmen in the morning....
Review: Ee done a fine job on this ere book, Mr. Cordingly.
Okay, I won't do the entire review in costume, but having just watched the incomparable Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Caribbean, I'm definitely in a piratical frame of mind. Arrrrrr.
This is a superb piece of research, and while it can be a little dry and academic in places, for those of us who have a pirate thing going on, David has done us proud with this powerhouse of information.
As other shipmates have mentioned, he also includes Mary Read and Ann(e) Bonny, who were part of Calico Jack Rackham's crew - with Bonny being his common law wife.
Any of you who have seen the Depp classic, will remember that when you see the Black Pearl's Jolly Roger flag unfurled, it is the unmistakable skull and crossed swords of Calico Jack. When I put my company Five Ships Ltd together (www.fiveships.com) some years ago, we adopted Rackham's flag as our company logo. Arrrrrrrr.... Rex Quondam Rexque Futurus - King That Was, King That Will Be.
One of the few omissions from David's book is the fact that the pirate skull and crossed bones/swords is actually the Ancient Egyptian sign of Osiris Risen, with all of its rebirth/resurrection imagery. For the very same reasons, it was the battle flag of the Knights Templar, and when the Templar fleet escaped from La Rochelle as the Pope and the French King moved against the Templars in 1307, they flew the skull and bones as an act of defiance.
Still, this is a superb book, if a trifle conventional, and an absolutely essential purchase for those of us who love the smell of burning merchantmen in the morning... Smells like victory...
Rating:
Summary: Footprints of a Wooden Leg.
Review: "Under the Black Flag" is a real pirate's treasure. For all those who want to know what was "real" and what "romance", here's your book.
Mr. Cordingly has performed a deep research on the subject and presents it in a very readable and interesting form. He has taken diaries, contemporary newspaper articles, personal letters and memoirs as a solid backdrop.
His study is centered mainly in the Caribbean theater, the East coast of North America and the Indian Ocean. He also gives glimpses of the Chinese pirates leaded by Ms. Cheng.
Every main issue is described: weaponry, tactics, vessels, flags, everyday life, treasures, pets and battles.
In its pages you'll find the life and deeds of famous characters as Henry Morgan, "Blackbeard", Captain Kidd, L'Ollonais, Calico Jack and many others not so well known.
A whole chapter is dedicated to women pirates including the adventures and misadventures of Mary Read and Anne Bonny.
Finally "romance" is addressed taking into account mainly movies on the subject.
As a bonus the book includes six maps of the different scenarios of pirate's campaigns; a glossary of sea terms; an extensive bibliography and several appendixes on relevant matters.
So brace yourselves and come aboard!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have Book for any Pirate Enthusiast
Review: Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly is a "must have" book for any pirate enthusiast. While it is meant to clear up the misconceptions of what pirates and their lives were like, it does not read like the scholarly work that it is. It strikes the perfect balance between being informative and entertaining.
I could not more strongly recommend this book, what a great read! If you enjoy this book and you are interested in other pirate related books, movies and games, visit me at my website: Http://www.thefist.org
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