Outlaws of the Atlantic
Subtitle: sailors, pirates, and motley crews in the Age of Sail
By: Marcus Rediker
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
ISBN-13: 9780807033098
Subjects: Pirates; Sailors; Seafaring life; Merchant marine; Slave ships; Navigation; Merchant mariners; History
Other titles: Sailors, pirates, and motley crews in the Age of Sail
Description: Rediker turns maritime history upside down, exploring the dramatic world of maritime adventure not from the perspective of admirals, merchants, and nation-states but from the viewpoint of commoners: sailors, slaves, indentured servants, pirates, and other outlaws from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth century.  He reveals how the "motley" (i.e. multiethnic) crews were a driving force behind the American Revolution; that pirates, enslaved Africans, and other outlaws worked together to subvert capitalism; and that, in the era of the tall ship, outlaws challenged authority from below deck.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The sailor's yarn; title: Edward Barlow, "poor seaman"; title: Henry Pitman, "fugitive traitor"; title: Under the banner of King Death : pirates; title: A motley crew in the American Revolution; title: African rebels : from captives to shipmates; title: "Black pirates" : the Amistad Rebellion, 1839.