Pirates, Plunderers, and Buccaneers
Why is pirating so addictive? They say, goes the frivolous response, that once ye lose yer first hand, ye get hooked.
Don’t let that glib comment misguide you. While there is plenty of swashbuckling to consider here, and author Richard Blakemore does have his fun here and there, Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy is a serious, well-researched history of piracy, plundering, and buccaneering — and what those terms really mean and how they differ, even with distinctions in several languages.
After he weighs anchor, Blakemore goes back — repeatedly, perhaps too often for some readers — to related terminology, noting how it is used (and should be employed) academically, historically, and in popular fashion. As he admits, “The linguistic variety is bewildering, but this very complexity conveys a crucial point. Not all plundering by sea was piracy, in the strict sense. The status and perception of maritime raiding varied according to circumstances.”
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