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Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750
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Comments/Reviews
Description: This introductory survey of maritime predation in the Americas from the age of Columbus to the reign of the Spanish King Philip V includes piracy, privateering (state-sponsored sea-robbery), and genuine warfare carried out by professional navies. Incorporating fascinating details, the book offers additional topical discussion on shipbuilding, sailors' diets, navigation, arms and armaments, and leisure activities.
Lane's account of piracy draws attention to the impact of maritime predation on the Spanish Empire. He divides the narrative into six chronological chapters surveying the French, English, and Dutch predators and introduces familiar pirates such as Francis Drake, Piet Heyn, and Henry Morgan, as well as lesser known figures, including Ann Bonn and Mary Read, the only two female pirates on record. Lane's account preserves a sense of the outlandishness and excitement of the era.
Selected Contents:
Introduction 1: Spain and the Sixteenth-Century Corsairs: The Brothers Barbarossa and the Barbary Coast Corsairs, Jambe de Bois and the First Caribbean Corsairs, Contrabanding and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrsis
2: Smugglers, Pirates and Privateers: The Elizabethans: West Country Slave-traders, San Juan de Ulua and Aftermath, Drake and Elizabethan Piracy, Elizabethan Privateers
3: From the Low Countries to the High Seas: The Dutch Sea-Rovers: Calvinism and Competition at Sea, Salt and Sovereignty in the Caribbean, Piet Heyn and the Dutch West India Company, Dutch Intruders in the Pacific
4: The Seventeenth-Century Caribbean Buccaneers: Renegades and Runaways on Hispaniola and Tortuga, Port Royal, Jamaica: Pirate Haven, Henry Morgan and the Treaty of Madrid, Buccaneers as Loggers and Privateers
5: Buccaneers in the South Sea: John Narborough and the Charlatan, Bartholomew Sharp: Pirate Captain of Last Resort, A Second Pirate Cycle in the South Sea, Grogniet and Guayaquil, 1687, Captain Franco, Shipwrecks, and Contraband
6: The Last Buccaneers and Pirate Suppression: The Buccaneer Denouement, Henry Avery and Captain Kidd, Treasure Wrecks and the Anglo-American Freebooters Conclusions
Appendix: Table of Early Modern Pirates and Contemporary European Monarchs, Glossary of Terms, Select Bibliography
Comment(s): "A fascinating account which suggests that inadequate Spanish response was as much to blame for piracy as the derring-do of the predators themselves. Lane develops an original typology of pirates and of their leaders who evolved from high-born nobles in the sixteenth century to the 'self-governing, near eqalitarian ... social bandits' of the eighteenth century, willing to overlook race and gender biases of the day. A 'must-read' for maritime history as well as Latin American studies!" -- Roberta M. Delson, United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, N.Y.
Review(s): Lane tells the stories without the myths, discussing such well-known pirates as Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, Piet Heyn, and Ann Bonn plus several lesser-known brigands, and he includes helpful discussions of shipbuilding, food, navigation, and more. This is a well-written and important scholarly examination of an often romanticized subject and the first of its kind in English. Recommended. Library Journal
A clear picture of the complex phenomenon that led to the 'classic' period of piracy in the Americas. In doing so, [the author] brushes aside many legends and pays careful attention to the varied circumstances and still more varied motives that led to the rise of this bloodthirsty pursuit of riches on the high seas. A valuable chronology helps clarify this obscure and over-romanticized scene and valuable notes establish the factual basis of the narrative. Sea History
A veritable catalog of ferocious captains, dastardly deeds, ships captured or lost, looted treasure, and the like. As befits a work designed for undergraduates, there are numerous illustrations. Half-a-dozen boxes are set apart from the text to present special topics selected to stoke reader interest. Choice
There is much to be commended in this book. ... A well-illustrated ... condensation of a vast amount of literature. His book deserves success as a college text. Colonial Latin American Historical Review
Considerable effort and expense have gone into the book to produce a product suitable for classroom use. It contains many contemporary illustrations. All are clearly reproduced and accurately labeled. The maps ... are pertinent and easy to read. Numerous sidebars provide fascinating and often witty discussions of subjects ranging from shipbuilding and currency equivalents to underwater salvage and early modern navigation techniques. A four-page chronology ... is convenient, as is a historical time line. ... Translations of foreign words and explanations of unfamiliar terms are frequently included in an effort to make the book student friendly. ... Moves with dispatch through 250 years, yet manages to fill in several areas untreated by other studies. The book also contains a trove of intriguing tidbits. William and Mary Quarterly
With excellent references and a jump start into the ample bibliography, Lane has provided readers and hopefully many college libraries with the perfect fun-to-read tool. ... Readers will also enjoy reading this book for its wit. ... There is ... much to praise in this book. M.E. Sharpe can be commended for allowing Lane to develop excellent maps which help to find names and places. The organization of the book follows a chronological story, but the 250-year account revels in details. ... Deserves to be read by more history students because the larger themes of long-distance trade, religious proselytization, and mass migrations all find specificity in the tumultuous lives of the pirates. The Sixteenth Century Journal
This is an excellent book...well written and well organized. It deserves a wider and more general readership beyond the purely academic. The Northern Mariner
Pillaging the Empire will provide helpful background information for anyone trying to understand or prepare a course on piracy in the Americas...The book is so straightfowardly written that undergraduates could use it to provide chronological linkage of one pirate episode to another, and thus, I recommend it for undergraduates and general readers alike. New West Indian Guide
Enlivened by Lane's own sharp insights and a number of unusual asides on topics such as pirate diets, gambling, and salvage, the end product is interesting, informative and accessible... A well-written, perceptive narrative of predatory enterprise in the New World. International Journal of Maritime History
There are three features of this work that make it a particularly valuable addition to the field of historical research on piracy: its organization, the relatively accessible style in which it was written and the engaging boxed inserts, focusing on related items of historical interest and appearing at the end of each chapter. The author provides excellent tables for reference. The chronology of key pirate raids and their dates of occurrence at the beginning and the table cross-listing early modern pirates and contemporary European monarchs make the book an excellent choice for anyone wishing to use it as a text for college classes. Terrae Incognite
    
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