Negative Positive
Title: Fact over fiction
Review: David Cordingly sets the record straight on who the real pirates were, i.e. nothing like the Pirates of the Caribbean Disney franchise. I learned they were despised, dangerous, and very often drunk. Details from every day pirate life, as well as historical adaptations are embellished in narrative style. The introduction was particularly good, giving small examples of actual pirate life and explaining how the pirates became romanticized through poems and novels, with much of our current conception coming from Stevenson's Treasure Island. I would've liked more info on Blackbeard, as well as more description of pirates in the Mediterranean and Pacific. However, despite some details lacking, this book was a great overview of several hundred years of piracy in the Atlantic and Caribbean waters of the Americas.
Is the review positive or negative? 