Real-life accounts of the world’s most notorious pirates—both men and women from the Golden
Age of Piracy and beyond—compiled by the New York Times bestselling author of A True Account:
Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates Written by Herself A Penguin Classic Spanning
three centuries and eight thousand nautical miles and compiled by a direct descendant of a
sailor who waged war with pirates in the early nineteenth century The Penguin Book of Pirates
takes us behind the eye patches the peg legs and the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger
and into the no-man’s-land of piracy that is rife with paradoxes and plot twists. Here in a
fascinating array of accounts that include trial transcripts journalism ship logs and more
are the grit and patois of real maritime marauders like the infamous Blackbeard the pirates
who inspired Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean Stede Bonnet in Max’s Our Flag Means
Death and the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride the astoundingly egalitarian
multi-ethnic and multilingual crews that became enmeshed in historical horrors like the slave
trade and lesser-known but no less formidable women pirates many of whom disguised themselves
as men. By turns brutal harrowing and inspiring these accounts of the “radically free”
sailors who were citizens more of the oceangoing world than of any nation on land remind us of
the glories and dangers of the open seas and the seductive appeal of communities forged in
resistance. For more than seventy-five years Penguin has been the leading publisher of
classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2 000 titles Penguin Classics
represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and
disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions
and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date
translations by award-winning translators.
