Pirates!: Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend

This is an A-Z coverage of pirates and related topics. It includes coverage of books, authors, movies, actors, places and, you got it, actual pirates. If you want information of something piratical this is a good first place to look. There's a lot left out though, so I'd consider this as a good beginning on a more comprehensive book.One big caution though, Rogozinski, doesn't seem to be overly constrained by history, so don't take everything written in this book as gospel. P-)

This is basically a coffee-table book, with lots of neat facts and figures about all things piratical. It certainly has some errors here and there, but it serves as a nice cross-referencing tool with other books on the subject. And where else can one find such a diverse discussion, including entries on the origin and formation of the pop-culture image of the pirate (peglegs, yo ho ho, etc), camp movies like the various Treasure Island features, and reviews of stories from Sabatini to Pope? While this book could certainly cover the pirate pulp novels of the 40s, 50s, & 60s better (think Jay Scotland), it's great for what it is. For a more scholarly book, I strongly recommend Ritchie's Captain Kidd.