Black flags, blue waters

History

Print length: 379 pagesLiveright, 2018

Description

Eric Jay Dolin examines the Golden Age of piracy in the Americas, focusing on pirates who operated in North American coastal waters from the late seventeenth through the early eighteenth centuries. The narrative features notorious figures including Blackbeard, William Kidd, and Edward Low, placing their careers within the wider history of piracy in the region. Rather than offering a general survey of pirates everywhere, the book concentrates on a particular place and period in early American history. Dolin’s account gives readers an entry point into that era through several of its best-known participants and the coastal world in which they operated.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Descriptive · Direct · Journalistic

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Atmospheric · Earnest · Suspenseful

Structure

Chronological nonfiction

Focus

Character · Information

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

Crime and punishmentPowerSurvivalWealth

About Eric Jay Dolin

Eric Jay Dolin writes narrative histories centered on maritime life, wildlife, and the environment. His direct, journalistic prose draws archival research into focused accounts, often using individual lives and disasters to examine science, policy, and public response. Black Flags, Blue Waters confines its history of piracy to the North American coast in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, moving among figures such as Blackbeard and William Kidd while reconstructing their coastal world. Furious Sky takes a broader chronological sweep, combining the history of hurricane forecasting with accounts of communities facing major storms and the institutional decisions that shaped warning, preparation, and recovery. His professional experience in environmental and fisheries policy provides useful context for this attention to systems as well as events.

Furious Sky Apple Books

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Liveright
Language: English
ISBN: 9781631492105

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