Originally published on August 19, 2024 (Episode 370)
Introduction
Maritime plundering, or piracy, has happened in nearly all regions of the world, in most ages of human history. Yet the image that we have of “a pirate” in our collective imagination comes from one period in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
So why has that one relatively short moment come to stand for all sea raiding across time and space? That is the question with which Richard Blakemore begins his new book Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy (Pegasus, 2024). To answer it he not only surveys decades of plundering and combat at sea and on land, but also interprets court cases, parliamentary legislation, imperial administration (or the lack of it), and the slave trade. For the “golden age of piracy”, like a conspiracy theory of the Kennedy assassination, at times seems to be connected to pretty much everything else going on at the same time. Except that in the case of piracy from 1650 to 1722, it actually was.
About the Guest
Richard Blakemore is Associate Professor of Social and Maritime History at the University of Reading. Enemies of All is his second book. His research focuses on seafaring, piracy, and the intersections of maritime labor with law and empire.
For Further Investigation
Richard Blakemore, Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy (Pegasus, 2024)
Richard Blakemore and Elaine Murphy, The British Civil Wars at Sea, 1638-1653 (Boydell and Brewer, 2018)
Related Episodes
“Pirates of the Golden Age” (with Steve Hahn)
“Stories Told by Trees”—pirates can appear in unexpected places
Other Resources
David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Random House, 1995)—the single best book on the entire arc of piratical history, and imaginings about that history
Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700 - 1750 (Cambridge, 1989); Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age (Beacon, 2005)—pirates as proto-Bolsheviks
Peter T. Leeson, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (Princeton, 2011)—pirates as highly rational market actors
Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Harvard, 1989)—a great book
Charles Johnson, General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates—choose the best scholarly edition available! But there isn’t one until Richard Blakemore edits and annotates one
Listen & Discuss
Arrr you convinced the pirate stereotype should be sunk once and for all? Or do you think Blackbeard deserves to keep his cultural crown? Drop your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with a shipmate who still quotes Pirates of the Caribbean.
