The Penguin Book of Pirates

Happy

Love this author! Definitely a book for purchase. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Way too detailed for an average reader

Although pretty academic, this book is probably a good read. IF it were possible to read it. But trying to plow through pages and pages of micro print makes for a very unpleasant ordeal. At least, for me! I gave up and donated the book to my local library.

The Penguin Book of Pirates is a well curated collection of historical accounts, reminiscences, studies, and essays on pirates edited by Katherine Howe. Released 30th April 2024 by Penguin on their Classics imprint, it's 400 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook fomats.Pirates have fascinated the public and been romanticized for centuries. Many were businessmen or women (more or less), some were ruthless psychopaths, but nearly all were larger than life leaving behind legacies of lost treasure, adventures, and legends. This book collects stories and historical accounts from the extant records in more or less chronological order from the 17th-19th centuries.Records include letters, contemporary accounts, historical records, and some few excerpts from literature (fictional or based loosely on actual history). The editor has done a good job with the annotations throughout and the chapter notes will provide readers with many hours of further reading. The publisher/author have also included a cross referenced index and suggested reading lists.Four and a half stars. Precisely fulfills the stated purpose efficiently and very well. It's a solid reference, and would be a great choice for public or school library acquisition, home reference, and possibly gift-giving to fans of nautical history.

I'm very excited to read the book, and this review is purely on the aesthetic qualities of this book. This cover is terrible, not shiny like the penguin classics use to be, this one feels sticky and gets hand prints all over it (mind you, i haven't read the book yet, the finger prints in the book are from handling it out of the box and skimming through it). I would recommend changing the type of cover as it's really bad.