Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign by Stephan Talty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is very engaging history of the The Brethren, Capt. Henry Morgan's real Pirates of the Caribbean. Along with the drama of a fireship ruse and a city-destroying earthquakes, it is interesting the actuality of buccaneer life. Rather than a criminal navy, they were more like a criminal marine corps: ships were a conveyance to get them to coastal settlements and departure points for laying siege, such as the pivotal struggle for Panama City having marched over 50 miles inland.
While it is not develed into detail, buccaneer psychology is partly analyzed. Why did they continue after even having money, instead choosing to be profligate and tying themselves to their lives of kidnapping, slaving, ransoming, torture, and theft. It actually appears they were an anarchistic collective of murderous sociopaths.
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