From: olaf@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Newsgroups: soc.history
Subject: Re: Piracy in the US
Date: 29 Sep 92 19:39:09 GMT
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada


Vincent Phuah asked about "books that deal with the subject
of piracy in the US." It isn't clear from this query what period
he is interested in, nor is it clear whether he is interested in
piracy by non-Americans in American waters, or piracy by
Americans in US waters and others. There is a growing scholarly
interest in piracy that would go well beyond the usual
sensational, romanticized stuff that usually passes for "pirate"
studies. Some suggestions on piracy in the USA and by Americans
might include a new book by Jenifer Marx which has been
favourably reviewed, PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS OF THE CARIBBEAN
(Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1992. x + 310 pp.,
illustrations, select bibliography, index. US $32.50, cloth; ISBN
0-89464-483-1). A very provocative attempt to place piracy within
a Marxist paradigm was BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA:
MERCHANT SEAMEN, PIRATES, AND THE ANGLO-AMERICAN MARITIME WORLD,
1700-1750 by Marcus Rediker (Cambridge & NY: Cambridge University
Press, 1987. xv + 322 pp., illustrations, appendices, notes,
index. 22 pounds sterling, cloth; ISBN 0-521-30342-7); Rediker
sees piracy as an early expression of maritime proletarian
consciousness in a world of structural changes in maritime
capital. Most reviews I have seen praise the meticulous nature of
the research and the skill with which Rediker weaves his
analysis, even as they challenge his interpretation. No one,
apparently, remains neutral or unmoved! See, for instance, the
Round Table on Rediker's book in the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
MARITIME HISTORY, Vol. I No.2 (December 1989), pp.311-357, or
"Floating Proletarians," a review by Alan Taylor in REVIEWS IN
AMERICAN HISTORY, vol. XVI, No. 2(June 1988), pp. 192-7. Another
recent study that has been well received is Robert C. Ritchie,
"Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates" (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1986). Marcus Rediker
reviewed it in an essay entitled "Pirates and the Imperial
State," in REVIEWS IN AMERICAN HISTORY, vol. XVI, No. 3(Sept.
1988), pp. 351-7. If your interest extends to privateering, as
opposed to piracy, you must look at Carl Swanson's PREDATORS AND
PRIZES: AMERICAN PRIVATEERING AND IMPERIAL WARFARE, 1739-1748
(Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1991. xx + 299
pp., illustrations, tables, bibliography, index. $29.95, cloth;
ISBN 0-87249-720-8). Carl's bibliography is thorough and should
provide further suggestions.

Of course, piracy persists after the eighteenth within the
framework of US maritime history: the War of 1812, the so-called
Barbary pirates, the commerce-raiding of the US Civil War, which
many at the time viewed as piratical behaviour (see the recent
study by Chester G. Hearn, GRAY RAIDERS OF THE SEA: HOW EIGHT
CONFEDERATE WARSHIPS DESTROYED THE UNION'S HIGH SEAS COMMERCE
(Camden, Maine: International Marine Publishing, 1991. xv + 351
pp., illustrations, maps, photographs, appendix, index. US
$24.95, cloth; ISBN 0-87742-279-6). However, as I said earlier,
I'm not sure whether this is precisely what you want. In any
case, I hope this has been of some use.

*****************************************************************
* Olaf Janzen              Interests:      North Atlantic history    *
* Department of History                    Maritime history          *
* Sir Wilfred Grenfell College             Newfoundland history      *
* Corner Brook, Newfoundland                                         *
* Canada                              Tel: (709) 637-6282            *
* A2H 6P9                             FAX: (709) 639-8125            *
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Newsgroups: soc.history