Black Flags, Blue Waters

August 13, 2018
In this informative volume, Dolin (When America First Met China) focuses on “pirates who either operated out of America’s English colonies or plundered ships along the American coast” during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, a period dubbed the Golden Age of Piracy. While he is an unabashed fan of popular culture’s treatment of legendary pirates, and includes a chapter on that topic, Dolin more than meets his objective of separating fact from fiction and establishing that there was “absolutely nothing romantic about , other than the legends woven about their exploits after they were gone.” Graphic descriptions of violence, such as sexual assaults of passengers, debunk the image of pirates as appealing rogues. This is also more than just a litany of raids on prospective prey and battles between pirates and governments; for context, Dolin lays out the history of “political intrigue and collusion” between pirates and colonists who encouraged them because they enabled colonists “to obtain the goods and money they so desperately desired despite the onerous trade restrictions put in place by the mother country.” Dolin’s interpretations could be debated—he asserts that Capt. William Kidd was really a pirate—but this is nonetheless an excellent starting point for readers interested in this misunderstood chapter of American history.