The Real Captain Kidd
Richard Zacks amazing research on a 2 century old myth was fascinating. I found some parts of it difficult to read because of the many trials, tribulations, and misfortunes that plagued Captain Kidd. The sections on the Pirate Robert Cuilford were equally fascinating.
I was surprised and appreciated the research as Richard Zacks tied in the anti-catholicism of England at the time, their built in distrust of Scotsmen, their competition with and hatred of the French, and denigration of the Irish. Apparent throughout, and most applicable to modern times is the greed and power mongers of the Admiralty, the Government in Colonial America and England; and the many abuses of the East India Trading Company.
The inner workings and dealings of these many partners, connected to slave trading, pirates, and other dubious practices, was equally fascinating. I noted the similarity in modern times to merchant ships being flagged in one country, and owned by another, and charted by a third. Additionally, the idea of "sweatshops" slave and underpaid laborers in an undeveloped country was nothing new, and was invented by these gentlemen of greed. The sad demise of example made of Captain Kidd was a travesty of justice placed on a most convenient fall-guy.
This book was definitely worth reading. A real eye-opener.
Scourge of the Seven Seas
Most famous Pirate of all time! Buried treasure all up and down the East Coast! Made his victims walk the plank! Invented the Skull and Cross Bones Flag! Evil, evil man!
Any schoolboy - even Google - knows the truth of that. Only problem is that none of it is true. William Kidd was the victim of chance and the calumny of his fellow man. Instead of being a pirate, he tried to capture pirates under a franchise from the King of England.
This heavily researched book based on original sources tells the fascinating and exciting story of Captain Kidd as it has never been told before. I must confess that I could not bring myself to finish the book after it becomes clear what is going to happen and the only thing remaining is to chronicle the trail of betrayal all the way from lowly seaman up to and including the King of England.
This book should be required reading for all who believe that our age is a decadent one.
Overwritten pseudo-history
Overwritten pseudo-history that purports to prove that Caption Kidd was a privateer with royal and business-leader credentials and not a rogue pirate.
Zacks buries sections of what might have been a decent 250-page book in 410 pages full of unprovable assertions and God-like first-person statements, which calls into question all of his supposed historical statements.
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd is a great book! There is a "pirate boat" named the Capt Kidd nearby where I live... I love to go on sunset sails dressed in my piratical garb! Too much fun!
Book Good, beware book on tape
I was listening (while commuting) to the book-on-tape of Pirate
Hunter, by Zacks. Good, informative and entertaining - I generally agree with the many positive reviews so will not repeat here.
But the reader, when quoting letters and other source documents,
seems to oddly mispronounce period terms.
Especially, renfaire and quaint-resort-community convention aside,
the character that looks something like the Y in "Ye" is a standard
printing and handwriting character called the Thorn, standing in
for "Th" so "Ye olde shope" should be pronounced "The olde shope".
Since the word "the" is used a lot, ye abuse most foul grated
painfully upon ye ear.
(If I may be so bold, Zacks is not totally off the hook for this one: transcriptions should not use the 'y' character for the thorn. either they should use "th" or the thorn (which may also look like a p with a flag - it's not like modern word processors or printers can't handle it). There is enough real quaintness and incomprehension when we deal with the 17th C. without adding a completely bogus layer)
And other examples; but mostly I just did not like the reading overall. So, I recommend the book if not the tape/cd
version.
-Rick
(69 reviews)
