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Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times
Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was one of the most notorious pirates ever to plague the Atlantic coast. He was also one of the most colorful pirates of all time, becoming the model for countless blood-and-thunder tales of sea rovers. His daring exploits, personal courage, terrifying appearance, and fourteen wives made him a legend in his own lifetime. The legends and myths about Blackbeard have become wilder rather than tamer in the 250 years since his gory but valiant death at Ocracoke Inlet. It is difficult for historians, and all but impossible for the general reader, to separate fact from fiction. Author Robert E. Lee has studied virtually every scrap of information available about the pirate and his contemporaries in an attempt to find the real Blackbeard. The result is a fascinating and authoritative study that reads like an exciting swashbuckler. Lee goes beyond the myths and the image Teach so carefully cultivated to reveal a new Blackbeard―infinitely more interesting as a man than as a legend. In the process, he has captured the spirit and character of a vanished age, "the golden age of piracy." Robert E. Lee was a former law professor who traced his own ancestry to a possible link with Blackbeard. A native of Kinston, North Carolina, he earned degrees from Wake Forest, Columbia, and Duke universities. The author of sixteen law books, Lee wrote the newspaper column "This is the Law".
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 23, 2013
Blackbeard the Pirate is a well-written biography, with a strong sense of the dynamism and suspense inherent in the story of Edward Teach's life. Author Robert Earl Lee's extensive quoting from 18th-century primary source documents is also a strength. Perhaps because the author is a former law school dean, he pays close attention to the specific laws that related to piracy in Blackbeard's time. My chief reservation regarding this fine book relates to the author's evident, indeed almost unreserved, sympathy for his subject; one gets a strong sense that the law professor Lee admires the lawless pirate Teach, particularly when reading the many passages in which Lee emphasizes Blackbeard's bravery, leadership qualities, and charisma. (At Teach's Hole, a pirate museum and store in Ocracoke, North Carolina, I once spoke with an actor who was portraying Blackbeard for tourist audiences, and asked if he had read Lee's book during his research for the role. He replied that he had, and said that he liked the book, but added, "That book is what happens when a dean of students at Wake Forest University's law school decides he wants to be a pirate.")
More emphasis on the perspectives of Blackbeard's many victims might have helped to provide a more well-rounded perspective regarding Edward Teach's life and piratical career. Yet Lee is not alone in his fascination with sea robbers like Blackbeard, as the ongoing popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series shows. If you are interested in piracy, or in the history of North Carolina's Outer Banks (Blackbeard was killed by a Royal Navy flotilla at Ocracoke Inlet in 1718), then you are likely to find Lee's Blackbeard the Pirate a rewarding read.
More emphasis on the perspectives of Blackbeard's many victims might have helped to provide a more well-rounded perspective regarding Edward Teach's life and piratical career. Yet Lee is not alone in his fascination with sea robbers like Blackbeard, as the ongoing popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series shows. If you are interested in piracy, or in the history of North Carolina's Outer Banks (Blackbeard was killed by a Royal Navy flotilla at Ocracoke Inlet in 1718), then you are likely to find Lee's Blackbeard the Pirate a rewarding read.
June 28, 2021
Review title: A Pirate's life
While pirates have a bold hold on the imagination, the pirate's life was brutal and short, even for the most famous of pirates who have inspired the songs, books, and movies of our imagination. Blackbeard, Edward Teach, was one such and this biography is as short as his life of piracy. Robert E. Lee (no not that one; his short bio on the back doesn't claim relation to the Civil War general but does claim "possible" relation to Blackbeard) tells this deadman's tale in a few short chapters in this locally published book that my son and his wife found on their honeymoon on the North Caroline Outer Banks near Blackbeard's final resting place.
The golden age of piracy was also short (the early decades of the 18th century) and focused on the Caribbean region where England, France, and Spain battled over supremacy, with battles often being fought by pirate proxy; Lee cites a source that there may have been 500 active pirates (p. 181, fn. 42) in those southern islands in service to England. "She needed pirates in her wars with France and Spain . . . . pirates, on more than one occasion, influenced the balance of power in the naval struggle. Each of the great powers wanted the pirates kept on a leash, as it were, at a safe distance from her own commerce and in equal readiness to pounce upon the enemy's ships. " (p. 29). After all, the difference between a privateer working for the government to capture goods from the opposition and a pirate taking the same goods for his own enrichment was a single piece of paper signed by the king or queen.
Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, even though that too was likely not his real name, was purely a pirate. The biographical details are scant: he may have been born in Bristol, the south-facing British seaport, perhaps around 1680, although there are no family, birth, or baptism records for the name Teach or any of several variants. He had some success as a pirate, playing on his distinctive beard and reputation for quick action, even though the legal record mentions only about five ships taken as prizes during his career. When he took advantage of the Crown's open pardon for pirates in 1718, he retired to the small North Carolina coastal town of Bath, but would have one more brush with the law leading to his death just months later at 35 to 40 years old.
Surprisingly, piracy served a valuable purpose in the early American colonies.
And for men like Teach on the fringe of the maritime community, piracy provided an outlet until "he could afford a follow an honest trade." (p. 15). And in fact, according to Lee, Blackbeard acted as a restraining influence on piracy in the Americas: "he could, and did, do far more to curb the pirates than any other person in the province." (p. 76)
The other interesting part of Blackbeard biography is the role it played in the often rocky relationship between the Virginia and North Carolina colonies. North Carolina, with its long coastline broken by rivers, swamps, and shifting sandbars and sounds, had a reputation for harboring pirates, although Lee (a North Carolinian) says the reputation was undeserved or overstated (p. 71). And the final event in Blackbeard's career, "The Battle of Ocracoke Inlet", was precipitated by British troops hired and organized by the Virginia colonial government with no advance warning to its North Carolina counterpoint, triggering bitter feelings from the younger and put upon colony to the south.
But perhaps North Carolina has the last laugh. The wreck of Blackbeard's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge has been found and is being studied, a boon for archeology, history, and tourism in the Outer Banks region. See the official web site of the recovery. A pirate's life may have been brutal and short, but Blackbeard's legacy lives on. That's a biography that lasts.
While pirates have a bold hold on the imagination, the pirate's life was brutal and short, even for the most famous of pirates who have inspired the songs, books, and movies of our imagination. Blackbeard, Edward Teach, was one such and this biography is as short as his life of piracy. Robert E. Lee (no not that one; his short bio on the back doesn't claim relation to the Civil War general but does claim "possible" relation to Blackbeard) tells this deadman's tale in a few short chapters in this locally published book that my son and his wife found on their honeymoon on the North Caroline Outer Banks near Blackbeard's final resting place.
The golden age of piracy was also short (the early decades of the 18th century) and focused on the Caribbean region where England, France, and Spain battled over supremacy, with battles often being fought by pirate proxy; Lee cites a source that there may have been 500 active pirates (p. 181, fn. 42) in those southern islands in service to England. "She needed pirates in her wars with France and Spain . . . . pirates, on more than one occasion, influenced the balance of power in the naval struggle. Each of the great powers wanted the pirates kept on a leash, as it were, at a safe distance from her own commerce and in equal readiness to pounce upon the enemy's ships. " (p. 29). After all, the difference between a privateer working for the government to capture goods from the opposition and a pirate taking the same goods for his own enrichment was a single piece of paper signed by the king or queen.
Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, even though that too was likely not his real name, was purely a pirate. The biographical details are scant: he may have been born in Bristol, the south-facing British seaport, perhaps around 1680, although there are no family, birth, or baptism records for the name Teach or any of several variants. He had some success as a pirate, playing on his distinctive beard and reputation for quick action, even though the legal record mentions only about five ships taken as prizes during his career. When he took advantage of the Crown's open pardon for pirates in 1718, he retired to the small North Carolina coastal town of Bath, but would have one more brush with the law leading to his death just months later at 35 to 40 years old.
Surprisingly, piracy served a valuable purpose in the early American colonies.
During this laissez faire period, pirate crews circulated freely along the wharves and in the stores and bars of Boston, Providence, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia. The merchants bought the pirates’ pickings at a small fraction of their market value and sold to the pirates, at an enormous profit, rum, shot, gunpowder, and supplies for another voyage. Young men were enthralled with the stories told by pirates, stories of great adventure and boundless riches on the high seas and in faraway places. (p. 67)
And for men like Teach on the fringe of the maritime community, piracy provided an outlet until "he could afford a follow an honest trade." (p. 15). And in fact, according to Lee, Blackbeard acted as a restraining influence on piracy in the Americas: "he could, and did, do far more to curb the pirates than any other person in the province." (p. 76)
The other interesting part of Blackbeard biography is the role it played in the often rocky relationship between the Virginia and North Carolina colonies. North Carolina, with its long coastline broken by rivers, swamps, and shifting sandbars and sounds, had a reputation for harboring pirates, although Lee (a North Carolinian) says the reputation was undeserved or overstated (p. 71). And the final event in Blackbeard's career, "The Battle of Ocracoke Inlet", was precipitated by British troops hired and organized by the Virginia colonial government with no advance warning to its North Carolina counterpoint, triggering bitter feelings from the younger and put upon colony to the south.
But perhaps North Carolina has the last laugh. The wreck of Blackbeard's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge has been found and is being studied, a boon for archeology, history, and tourism in the Outer Banks region. See the official web site of the recovery. A pirate's life may have been brutal and short, but Blackbeard's legacy lives on. That's a biography that lasts.
November 13, 2023
Blackbeard is many things to many people, but he was undoubtedly good at what he did. Lee's biography wanders and meanders away from the subject too frequently, which is irksome, but it does provide some meaningful insights regarding the political and social contexts of the Caribbean, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia in the 1710s.
May 13, 2013
This is well researched as far as I can tell -- I can't judge about some things, and I know that much more archaeological evidence has been uncovered since this was published in 1974, but I have read many of the same records that Lee relied on, and I think his interpretations are good.
Lee's writing isn't dull, but does feel scholarly. This is a nice change from the melodrama and eager duplication of legends found in most books about pirates.
Lee doesn't avoid legend -- there would be very little to go on without it -- but he's pretty careful to describe his sources and how reliable they might (not) be.
I do agree with the interpreter's statement quoted in this review: "That book is what happens when a dean of students at Wake Forest University's law school decides he wants to be a pirate."
This gives the book some charm, but also its uncomfortable moments. Lee is very taken by hints in one source that Blackbeard was a great ladies' man. The way he writes about this part made me a bit embarrassed for him.
Lee's writing isn't dull, but does feel scholarly. This is a nice change from the melodrama and eager duplication of legends found in most books about pirates.
Lee doesn't avoid legend -- there would be very little to go on without it -- but he's pretty careful to describe his sources and how reliable they might (not) be.
I do agree with the interpreter's statement quoted in this review: "That book is what happens when a dean of students at Wake Forest University's law school decides he wants to be a pirate."
This gives the book some charm, but also its uncomfortable moments. Lee is very taken by hints in one source that Blackbeard was a great ladies' man. The way he writes about this part made me a bit embarrassed for him.
November 18, 2013
This book was an interesting read, mostly because of the subject matter. Its not too lengthy, which is appropriate, since only so much is known about Blackbeard. However, the book at times was slightly tedious to read, as the author would go off on a barely related tangent at times. Entire chapters were devoted that while mildly interesting, had nothing to do with Blackbeard. In my opinion while some of this diversion was neccessary and important to explain the times, there was far too much of it to be useful, and instead ending up distracting a bit from the story.
June 7, 2008
Footnotes galore and quote after quote from historic documents make for dry reading. Not much is known about Blackbeard though and the author wanted to present the true man - Edward Teach - rather than the myth. In that he's succeeded. The man himself is shown to be far more interesting than the legend he intentionally cultivated but don't mistake this for a novel.
April 26, 2012
At times it relates Blackbeard's life in an almost narrative form that is hard to put down. At other times the author seems intent to include all the fruits of his research no matter how tedious they may be to the reader. At it's core, it's a history book and anyone truly interested in Blackbeard would be well advised to read it.
May 2, 2008
An interesting take on Blackbeard's life. I thought it the book had too many digressions - may be this was just filler because not much is known about his life. Nonetheless, the parts that were relevant to his life were very well portrayed.
October 27, 2010
A basic historian's overview of Blackbeard's life and times. Not a bad read, if you don't mind a historian's writing style. Very informative and interesting. I have a much better appreciation for who Blackbeard was, beyond legend and rumor.
July 28, 2011
Was excited to read about pirates but this was boring.... I wanted stories not just a bunch of facts.
July 9, 2017
Brilliant. Fantastic. Epic. I loved it. What a great book about the life and times of a great man.
September 21, 2024
While living on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks in the spring to fall season of 2022, I visited every bookstore in the chain of islands and I asked several bookstore owners which book they would recommend for the most accurate historical account of Blackbeard the Pirate, also known as Edward Teach, rather than just stories about him. This book was the one they all recommended, so I purchased it.
This book was fascinating and full of historical details, as the subject was well-researched. I learned so much, which was just what I was looking for.
The book has notes, appendix, and bibliography sections in the back.
This book was fascinating and full of historical details, as the subject was well-researched. I learned so much, which was just what I was looking for.
The book has notes, appendix, and bibliography sections in the back.
May 29, 2021
Growing up in southern New Jersey near the Delaware Bay, and spending a considerable amount of time in eastern North Carolina, I found this book interesting and fascinating. What added to my fascination is that one of Blackbeard's cohorts was Israel Hands, an ancestor on my mother's side. Lee's background as an attorney added insight from a legal perspective that other authors and historians could and would easily miss. For those interested in the early colonial days of America, maritime history, pirates, or the history of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, this is a worthy read.
February 3, 2025
A good overall read. A good introduction to the legend while dispelling certain myths about Blackbeard. The author promises a look into Blackbeards early life though and despite him being a pupil of Benjamin Hornigold…there’s not much else to say. The shrouded history of Edward Teach seems to add more to his legend than take it away though.
The book also jumps around dates a lot. Moving in and out of the story to times after Teaches death while discussing his exploits. It’s a bit confusing and brings in a lot of the law and history of the colonies in the early 18th century.
The book also jumps around dates a lot. Moving in and out of the story to times after Teaches death while discussing his exploits. It’s a bit confusing and brings in a lot of the law and history of the colonies in the early 18th century.
February 13, 2019
I got the impression, towards the end, that the author had a page limit he was trying to meet. There was a whole chapter that was basically a "here's what happened to..." kind of thing for all the people (and their wives, and their wives siblings, and children, and great grand children) who were involved in Blackbeard's demise. I admittedly skimmed those bits.
Overall though, this was really interesting and informative about Blackbeard's life and influence.
Overall though, this was really interesting and informative about Blackbeard's life and influence.
June 6, 2024
Did i enjoy this? It's difficult to say. Yes, i liked to read about the famous Blackbeard and what his life was like. No, i did not enjoy changing the pages for the notes at the back. And there are a lot. Either way, i'm happy to have read this book. Blackbeard did his thing and became a pirate of legendary status that we still know today in only 2 years!! 2 years! Hats off to you Sir. I am actually proud.
August 22, 2017
Visiting the Outer Banks yearly gives the story of Blackbeard a wonderful visual context as I learned about the history of his piracy. I was able to hold my interest through both historical context and description of events.
November 26, 2019
A comprehensive account of Blackbeards exploits, Lee does a good job sourcing his information. However Lee's extreme admiration for the pirate clouds his judgement, leaving me to second-guess many of the conclusions he draws.
Useful for information and sources, but draw your own conclusions.
Useful for information and sources, but draw your own conclusions.
July 2, 2025
One of three books that feature the Outer Banks that I began reading while during a recent camping vacation there, this was my first proper introduction to Edward Teach (Blackbeard), and it was a fascinating and well-written biography.
March 10, 2022
Super informative! There’s a lot of references, which is awesome for further research. There’s more info than just about Blackbeard, such as the end of piracy.
April 12, 2025
OK had large parts
January 25, 2022
This thoroughly researched biography of Edward Teach gives a bit of his origin, a lot of his piratical career as Blackbeard, and some other historical information as well. The book has fifty pages of end notes, along with an extensive bibliography and index. The text is highly reliable, especially as it considers the value of some contemporary accounts of Blackbeard's life and death. Those are narrated by people who have a lot less objectivity than they claim.
Teach began life in Bristol, England, probably around 1680. Pirates often took assumed names and did not give many (if any) family details to protect their relatives from reprisals. Teach doesn't appear as a pirate in the American colonies until the early 1700s, first being a sailor for another pirate, Captain Hornigold, before striking out on his own. Teach grew a great beard and kitted himself with a big coat and bandoliers stuffed with pistols to create an intimidating appearance. His brutal behavior added to his appearance, giving him an infamous reputation. That reputation made it easier to be a pirate, since victims would often not put up a fight against a desperate and despicable character. Blackbeard had a lot of exciting adventures, blockading Charleston, capturing ships at sea, wedding many women, and dying dramatically at a battle on Ocracoke Island in November 1718. The stories of his life are well told in this book.
The book also includes historical background about the England, who used piracy to advance their ongoing wars with Spain and France, and about the colonies, whose governments were more or less competent at dealing with piracy. Pirates were definitely a problem for the King's subjects living far away from the homeland. The Virginia colony government was much more aggressive and ambitious in dealing with pirates (and Blackbeard in particular) since they had many more resources than the Carolina colonies. The political detail gets too detailed at points, describing extended family histories of characters only tangentially related to Blackbeard and piracy. I found my eyes glazing over in many chapters. I drew the conclusion that the information was added to make the text book-length (the text is only 174 pages).
The book is a mixed bag. The Blackbeard information is interesting and exciting. A lot of the political background is less colorful and engaging. An editor could probably take out 50 to 70 pages and make it a much better narrative.
Mildly recommended.
Sample quote, from a contemporary newspaper account of Blackbeard's death, which is probably less reliable but very colorful:
...one of Maynard's [he was the leader of the assault on Blackbeard] men being a Highlander, ingaged Teach with his broad Sword, who gave Teach a cut on the Neck, Teach saying well done Lad, the Highlander reply'd, if it be not well done, I'll do it better, with that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his Head, laying it flat on his Shoulder. [spelling and punctuation in the original Boston News-Letter number 776, a weekly whose account was published at the end of February, 1719]
Teach began life in Bristol, England, probably around 1680. Pirates often took assumed names and did not give many (if any) family details to protect their relatives from reprisals. Teach doesn't appear as a pirate in the American colonies until the early 1700s, first being a sailor for another pirate, Captain Hornigold, before striking out on his own. Teach grew a great beard and kitted himself with a big coat and bandoliers stuffed with pistols to create an intimidating appearance. His brutal behavior added to his appearance, giving him an infamous reputation. That reputation made it easier to be a pirate, since victims would often not put up a fight against a desperate and despicable character. Blackbeard had a lot of exciting adventures, blockading Charleston, capturing ships at sea, wedding many women, and dying dramatically at a battle on Ocracoke Island in November 1718. The stories of his life are well told in this book.
The book also includes historical background about the England, who used piracy to advance their ongoing wars with Spain and France, and about the colonies, whose governments were more or less competent at dealing with piracy. Pirates were definitely a problem for the King's subjects living far away from the homeland. The Virginia colony government was much more aggressive and ambitious in dealing with pirates (and Blackbeard in particular) since they had many more resources than the Carolina colonies. The political detail gets too detailed at points, describing extended family histories of characters only tangentially related to Blackbeard and piracy. I found my eyes glazing over in many chapters. I drew the conclusion that the information was added to make the text book-length (the text is only 174 pages).
The book is a mixed bag. The Blackbeard information is interesting and exciting. A lot of the political background is less colorful and engaging. An editor could probably take out 50 to 70 pages and make it a much better narrative.
Mildly recommended.
Sample quote, from a contemporary newspaper account of Blackbeard's death, which is probably less reliable but very colorful:
...one of Maynard's [he was the leader of the assault on Blackbeard] men being a Highlander, ingaged Teach with his broad Sword, who gave Teach a cut on the Neck, Teach saying well done Lad, the Highlander reply'd, if it be not well done, I'll do it better, with that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his Head, laying it flat on his Shoulder. [spelling and punctuation in the original Boston News-Letter number 776, a weekly whose account was published at the end of February, 1719]
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August 23, 2016Robert Earl Lee is a lawyer and, because of his professional habits, tends to argue to support a case, not necessarily critically. He studied Blackbeard intensely, but also relied heavily upon legend and Captain Charles Johnson's "A General History..." which tells a great many inaccuracies concerning Blackbeard. Lee even embellishes upon those legends, like most amateur writers would - not a bad thing - if you don't claim to be writing history rather than historical fiction. Lee also approaches his subject from a Southern redeemer perspective much like the antiquarians of the century before him. This handicaps his "history" severely. Still, his research was extensive and the majority of the British records now available at the North Carolina State Archives was collected by him. Using these records from a professional historical perspective reduces such amateur bias and creates a much more factual representation of Blackbeard.
March 11, 2016
Lee's account of Edward Teach's life is a serious academic work, which comes with a certain innate dryness, but his enthusiasm for the subject material shines through despite the seriousness of the presentation. The author is careful to separate fact from fiction wherever possible, but does not ignore the many entertaining legends that have been borne of Blackbeard's legacy. Readers with a fondness for the coastal legends of North Carolina would do well to spend some time reading this account of the legendary pirate's life--I started it because I had an autographed copy in my collection (the author was one of my father's professors at Wake Forest in the 1970s), and was doing research for a pirate-themed tabletop roleplaying game.
July 14, 2016
A thorough investigation into the verifiable activities of Blackbeard during his short life. Not a book I would recommend for the casual pirate history reader. I appreciated the political context of his life and death as it is often glossed over in less detailed accounts. A worthwhile read for avid historians. Feels more intimate and local than most accounts I have read.
January 15, 2011
I found this book rather dry, and even though it covered Blackbeard the man and developed an interesting view of the world he inhabited, I still felt this could have been a riveting book, but it wasn't.
January 17, 2014
So little is known about Blackbeard until the later part of his life, there really isn't just much to write about.
July 26, 2010
Pondering a career move. Kind of hack work, but fun (esp for fans of the Outer Banks).
May 8, 2011
Great read!
September 17, 2014
pretty good. seemed more in-depth than others I've read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews