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Famous Pirates of the New World
1950's book with from the World Landmark Series of Books with tons of swashbuckling pirate adventures.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
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44 people want to read
About the author
A.B.C. Whipple
28 books8 followersAddison Beecher Colvin Whipple was an American journalist, editor, historian and author. Before his retirement he was editor of Life's International Editions and executive editor of Time-Life Books.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 13, 2021
As I wade through volumes of privateer and pirate books, this one stands out. It was intended for young people decades ago, but the writing style is typical what is published for adults today.
As I've read various short and long-form biographies and tales of those involved in the business, this one gets into some details of lives not otherwise noted, that I've found. There are descriptions that strive past the typical timeline effort of general histories.
I particularly like the well explained offer to to the pirating world to cease actions and never be brought to the noose. So far, the best writing of this I've found.
The book is nicely written and concise in focus. This book covers a wide range of those on the high seas and leaves the reader with a far better understanding of the motivations of those who got into the business, what they did and what happened to them.
About the illustrations: All are great drawings. Yet, every single one of them is wrong. All have errors. Clearly the writer and author never communicated and the illustrator, either, didn't understand the text, never saw it or ignored it. An illustration in the narrow pass along the outer islands of North Carolina shows wide open sea. Not as it was. As an illustrator, myself, I get that maybe the artist was given an extremely tight deadline, but someone had to approve the art and shouldn't have. The book would';ve been better with out the well-drawn, but poor depictions.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 of ten points.
As I've read various short and long-form biographies and tales of those involved in the business, this one gets into some details of lives not otherwise noted, that I've found. There are descriptions that strive past the typical timeline effort of general histories.
I particularly like the well explained offer to to the pirating world to cease actions and never be brought to the noose. So far, the best writing of this I've found.
The book is nicely written and concise in focus. This book covers a wide range of those on the high seas and leaves the reader with a far better understanding of the motivations of those who got into the business, what they did and what happened to them.
About the illustrations: All are great drawings. Yet, every single one of them is wrong. All have errors. Clearly the writer and author never communicated and the illustrator, either, didn't understand the text, never saw it or ignored it. An illustration in the narrow pass along the outer islands of North Carolina shows wide open sea. Not as it was. As an illustrator, myself, I get that maybe the artist was given an extremely tight deadline, but someone had to approve the art and shouldn't have. The book would';ve been better with out the well-drawn, but poor depictions.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 of ten points.
November 13, 2020
I don’t know if it’s the larger typeset, or the shortness of the book (read in two hour-long sittings), but it seems like it was written for a younger audience than the other books on pirates I’ve read recently. It wasn’t bad, I appreciated that it went in-depth on how Woodes Rogers dismantled the New Providence/Nassau pirate republic. One of my complaints is that the individual pirate stories tend to be condensed, which means it mashes them together. I find it highly unlikely that all of the stories Blackbeard is known for all occurred in the week or so before his death.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2023
Fascinating book. I don't know how these landmarks find these stories or authors, but this amazed me from the pirate that shoots a man during an enforced mass, to a pirate who throws men overboard for drinking, to a pirate who always fights in suits, to the pirate who starts his own country, to the pirate who saves a man's life by shooting him, and finally the governor who solves piracy through landownership rights and title deeds. This book was stunning.
April 21, 2022
Excellent! Lots of little-known stories
March 28, 2024
Pirates!
January 28, 2026
Pretty fascinating sketch biographies of some of the most famous pirates of the 16 to 18th centuries. Nowhere near exhaustive, the book only details three in fuller account, and then has a chapter containing about a paragraph a piece on many of the most interesting characters in piracy, including three women who took to the bloodthirsty life even more than their male counterparts. I’m glad I pre-read this book, I had meant to hand it to my student at age 9, but I think there’s a bit too much gory blood loss than I’d like him exposed to at this stage. I think 11 or 12yo would be more appropriate. This was very easy to read, but I wish there was a bibliography of sources included as in the Korean War book. That would have been very helpful to pursue further information since this book really only serves as cursory introductions to only a very few select pirates.
Ccs: The nature of pirating was full of deceit, violence, betrayal, stealing, and lawlessness. A man is knifed and killed. Another man is tricked and pushed off a cliff and presumed killed. A second man falls off a cliff and is actually killed, smashed on coral and rocks. The entire chapter on Blackbeard is particularly bloody—people are senselessly murdered left and right. Torture was regularly employed to teach merchant ships or sloops a lesson, described in varying degrees of detail—fingers and hands cut off. Outdated terms “Indian” and “Negro” used.
Ccs: The nature of pirating was full of deceit, violence, betrayal, stealing, and lawlessness. A man is knifed and killed. Another man is tricked and pushed off a cliff and presumed killed. A second man falls off a cliff and is actually killed, smashed on coral and rocks. The entire chapter on Blackbeard is particularly bloody—people are senselessly murdered left and right. Torture was regularly employed to teach merchant ships or sloops a lesson, described in varying degrees of detail—fingers and hands cut off. Outdated terms “Indian” and “Negro” used.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2022
Book #8 of 2022: Famous Pirates of the New World by A.B.C. Whipple
(Landmark Book Series)
(Book #38 I’ve completed in the series)
Pirates! Just the mention of the word would strike fear into the hearts of sailors. I’ve always loved to read about pirates. 🏴☠️ I found this book short but informative and would recommend it for all ages.
Two hundred years ago, when piracy was notorious, this word was enough to send chills down a brave man's spine. For then there was no navy strong enough to handle the villainous seagoing gangsters who tortured sailors, stole their cargo and burned their ships. No waters were safe from the bloodthirsty leaders and their greedy crews, and world trade was in danger of extinction.
In Famous Pirates of the New World, you will meet the dreaded Blackbeard, cunning Captain Flood, lawless men like Pierre le Grand and Dixey Bull, and even women pirates who wore men's clothes and fought with knives and guns. You will see what it was like when the only law was pirate law.
Of course, not all pirates were successful; not all of them were cruel. But they were all thieves and for a long time they struck terror in the hearts of seafaring men.
(Landmark Book Series)
(Book #38 I’ve completed in the series)
Pirates! Just the mention of the word would strike fear into the hearts of sailors. I’ve always loved to read about pirates. 🏴☠️ I found this book short but informative and would recommend it for all ages.
Two hundred years ago, when piracy was notorious, this word was enough to send chills down a brave man's spine. For then there was no navy strong enough to handle the villainous seagoing gangsters who tortured sailors, stole their cargo and burned their ships. No waters were safe from the bloodthirsty leaders and their greedy crews, and world trade was in danger of extinction.
In Famous Pirates of the New World, you will meet the dreaded Blackbeard, cunning Captain Flood, lawless men like Pierre le Grand and Dixey Bull, and even women pirates who wore men's clothes and fought with knives and guns. You will see what it was like when the only law was pirate law.
Of course, not all pirates were successful; not all of them were cruel. But they were all thieves and for a long time they struck terror in the hearts of seafaring men.
October 19, 2015
I've been reading a lot of older, drier accounts of various pirates written for adults, and so this one, written for a younger audience in the '50s was linguistically refreshing. It's clear and digestible language and there is just enough dramatic license taken to give the stories some flesh, without taking it too much out of the realm of actual history. I do wish there had been just a bit more concrete facts, though. Specific dates were not mentioned for many of the pirates or events, and as the golden age of pirates spanned a couple hundred years, it would have been nice to keep a linear timeline. I also sometimes wish more was mentioned about how we know certain things, to lend the information more credibility. But in the end, these stories are more of a introduction anyway. A nice quick way to get you familiar with these individuals and their stores and save the fact checking for other books.
November 2, 2015
I'm a little dubious about the verity of some of the claims in this book, but there's enough swashbuckling pirate action to make me ignore the doubt. There's more decapitation and dismemberment than I would've expected in a kid's book from the '50s, and I mean that in a good way. I mean, these are pirates, and don't mess around.
July 20, 2010
Very interesting, although kind of an easy read. A good swashbuckler!
December 28, 2010
Short essays on the real Pirates of the Caribbean.
July 4, 2011
A kid's primer on pirates and history.
Nice intro to the time period and various famous pirates, but enough swashbuckling adventure to keep a kid's interest.
Nice intro to the time period and various famous pirates, but enough swashbuckling adventure to keep a kid's interest.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews