The Sea Rovers: Pirates, Privateers, and Buccaneers

by Albert Marrin

Discusses Drake, Morgan, Blackbeard, and other pirates and privateers, both men and women, who have roamed the sea since 1500.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

173 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1984

About the author

Albert Marrin is a historian and the author of more than twenty nonfiction books for young people. He has won various awards for his writing, including the 2005 James Madison Book Award and the 2008 National Endowment for Humanities Medal. In 2011, his book Flesh and Blood So Cheap was a National Book Award Finalist. Marrin is the Chairman of the History Department at New York's Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding book! If one wants to understand the difference between pirates, buccaneers and privateers, Marrin does the best job I've seen in one volume. His writing is crisp and fun and full of history and wonderful historical nuggets spread throughout. I will definitely be seeking out more of his writing!

He also includes maps!!! Something rarely done in a book of history. There's also a labelled diagram of a ship so that the large amount of references can be understood! Excellent! The illustrations included are just the entries needed to better understand the stories included.

If more history books were approached like this, more would be read!...and Understood!!!

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 10 out of ten points!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like some parts could be explored more deeply, but it was really well written and kept my attention! Some parts were written narratively in a way, and it worked really well. Loved the use of images in this book too. I would recommend this book to someone that is interested in learning about several different aspects of piracy, without digging super deep into each one.