{"product_id":"charles-johnsons-general-history-of-the-pyrates-and-global-commerce-paperback-softback-9781684485536","title":"Charles Johnson's \"General History of the Pyrates\" and Global Commerce (Paperback \/ softback) 9781684485536","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eCharles Johnson's \"General History of the Pyrates\" and Global Commerce\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eNoel Chevalier (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781684485536\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 17 June 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e198 pages, 8 B-W images\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.6 x 1.3 cm, 0.286 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Chevalier's new monograph on the \u003ci\u003eGeneral History\u003c\/i\u003e is absolutely indispensable for anyone with any investment in Golden Age pirate studies. Clear-eyed and richly contextualized, this is the work we have all been waiting for on this most essential and least understood of source texts.\" - Manushag Powell (coauthor of British Pirates in Print and Performance) \"A sophisticated analysis of one of the most important sources for the Golden Age of Piracy in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Historians as well as literary scholars will find much to discover in this well-written and illuminating study.\" - Arne Bialuschewski (author of Raiders and Natives: Cross-Cultural Relations in the Age of Buccaneers)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eA bestseller upon its publication in 1724, Charles Johnson’s \u003ci\u003eGeneral History of the Pyrates \u003c\/i\u003eshaped public perceptions of piracy with its portraits of such legendary figures as Blackbeard, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and Bartholomew Roberts. Yet despite influencing everything from \u003ci\u003eTreasure Island \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003ePeter Pan\u003c\/i\u003e, Johnson’s book has yet to be taken seriously as a literary work in its own right.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This study explores how \u003ci\u003eGeneral History of the Pyrates \u003c\/i\u003ewas at the heart of early eighteenth-century British debates about commerce, colonialism, and law. Examining how pirates are depicted as both monsters and Great Men, Noel Chevalier untangles the contradictions within a Britain emerging as a colonial superpower, where ruthlessness and ambition were both feared and praised. Traveling the high seas to plunder treasure from foreign lands, pirates were not so different from the British capitalists who built fortunes from resource extraction, the plantation economy, and the transatlantic slave trade. Connecting the work to later books like \u003ci\u003eGulliver’s Travels \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Beggar’s Opera\u003c\/i\u003e that satirized the era and its power-hungry prime minister Robert Walpole, Chevalier shows how the pirate became an iconic figure in 1720s Britain, a time of cold-hearted capitalism and rapacious colonial expansion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e A Note on Citations\u003cbr\u003e Introduction: Monstrous Business\u003cbr\u003e 1    A General History of \u003ci\u003eGeneral History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Monsters\u003cbr\u003e 2    “\u003cbr\u003eLet Us Make a Hell of Our Own”\u003cbr\u003e: The Pirate as Monster\u003cbr\u003e 3    The “\u003cbr\u003eBorders of the Possible”\u003cbr\u003e: \u003ci\u003eGeneral History\u003c\/i\u003e, Commerce, and Empire\u003cbr\u003e Interlude\u003cbr\u003e 4    “\u003cbr\u003ePirate Vices, Publick Benefits”\u003cbr\u003e: The Social Ethics of Piracy in the 1720s\u003cbr\u003e Great Men\u003cbr\u003e 5    Plutarch on the Spanish Main: Pirates and “\u003cbr\u003eGreat Men”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 6    “\u003cbr\u003eTheir Crimes conspir’\u003cbr\u003ed to make ’\u003cbr\u003eem Great”\u003cbr\u003e: Piracy and the Spectacle of Law\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Appendix: Editions of \u003ci\u003eGeneral History of the Pyrates\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Bucknell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52702498554136,"sku":"9781684485536","price":24.37,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/charles-johnsons-general-history-of-the-pyrates-and-global-commerce-paperback-softback-9781684485536","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}