A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates

by Charles Johnson, Richard West (Introduction)

Originally published in 1724, this instantaneous bestseller delivered a dramatic and detailed chronicle of robbery and murder on the high seas. The General History's vivid prose and graphic accounts not only were mainly responsible for the posthumous reputations of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, but also have inspired fictional pirates, from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island to Errol Flynn's movies.

Genres: History, Pirates, Nonfiction

392 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 1999

About the author

Captain Charles Johnson, the author of the 1724 book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, has not been identified.

It has often been assumed that the name Captain Charles Johnson was a pseudonym, but nothing definitive has been determined about who he may have been. For a period of nearly fifty years, the prevailing theory was that the author's true identity was Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe. But that theory has been challenged and invalidated based on a lack of supporting evidence. Nonetheless, his book, which is in the public domain, has been published in a large number of editions by various publishers and in translations around the world, often employing the name Daniel Defoe on the cover.

Reviews

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different kind of read... Old style punctuation with all Nouns captialized and so forth. Took me a while to get use to it. I enjoyed it, but not necessarily recommended.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yar.