Empire of Blue Water
Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign
Talty, Stephan
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BOOK SYNOPSIS
He challenged the greatest empire on earth with a ragtag bunch of renegadesand brought it to its knees. Empire of Blue Water is the real story of the pirates of the Caribbean.
Henry Morgan, a twenty-year-old Welshman, crossed the Atlantic in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Over the next three decades, his exploits in the Caribbean in the service of the English became legendary. His daring attacks on the mighty Spanish Empire on land and at sea determined the fates of kings and queens, and his victories helped shape the destiny of the New World.
Morgan gathered disaffected European sailors and soldiers, hard-bitten adventurers, runaway slaves, and vicious cutthroats, and turned them into the most feared army in the Western Hemisphere. Sailing out from the English stronghold of Port Royal, Jamaica, the wickedest city in the New World, Morgan and his men terrorized Spanish merchant ships and devastated the cities where great riches in silver, gold, and gems lay waiting. His last raid, a daring assault on the fabled city of Panama, helped break Spains hold on the Americas forever.
Awash with bloody battles, political intrigues, natural disaster, and a cast of characters more compelling, bizarre, and memorable than any found in a Hollywood swashbucklerincluding the notorious pirate LOllonais, the soul-tortured King Philip IV of Spain, and Thomas Modyford, the crafty English governor of JamaicaEmpire of Blue Water brilliantly re-creates the passions and the violence of the age of exploration and empire.
From the Hardcover edition.
BOOK REVIEWS
Swashbuckling history at its bloody, blood-soaked best, and a mirror to our own times.
--Tom Reiss, author of The Orientalist
Morgan proves an irresistible hero. A thrilling and fascinating adventure.
--Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance and The Bounty
Rollicking . . . with style and energy Talty tells a tale of boundless wickedness.
William M. Fowler, author of Empires at War
Reeking of authentic blood and thunder, and as richly detailed as a work of fiction, Empire of Blue Water dramatically evokes the rough-and-tumble age when pirates owned the seas. In Stephan Taltys hands, the brilliant Captain Morgan, wicked and cutthroat though he was, proves an irresistible hero. A thrilling and fascinating adventure.
Caroline Alexander, author of The Endurance and The Bounty
Stephan Taltys new book serves up swashbuckling history at its briny, blood-soaked best, with enough violence and passion to keep the pages flying by. But its not only blood and swash: Empire of Blue Water is also a mirror to our own times, showing that attempting globalization against a backdrop of the clash of civilizations is nothing new,
and that religious violence is often a thinly veiled cover for greed and personal ambition. Talty's portrait of the legendary privateer Henry Morgan is a marvelous study in contradictionsa man of astounding heroism, brilliance, compassion, and charm, who was also capable of the greatest betrayal.
Tom Reiss, author of The Orientalist
A wickedly entertaining tale of pirates and the Caribbean seas they once ruled like kings. Epic sea battles, daring adventures, rich history, great villains and heroes alikeits a treasure.
Neal Bascomb, author of The Perfect Mile and Higher
In a riveting history that reads like the best novels, Stephan Talty stylishly extricates the pirates of the Caribbean from the imprecise caricature that so often consumes them. Layer by fascinating layer, Talty peels away the eye patch and theshiver-me-timbers brogue to reveal the raucous, complex and authentic buccaneers
of the Brethren of the Coast. . . . Storytelling and history to be savored.
Buddy Levy, author of American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett
Engrossing . . . a swashbuckling tale of how the history of the Americas was shaped by a small group of daring brigands.
Matthew Brzezinski, author of Casino Moscow
A fascinating look inside [a] glamorous and gritty world.
Les Standiford, author of Last Train to Paradise
Exceptionally well-told . . . an exhilarating adventure in reading.
Kerry A. Trask, author of Black Hawk
From the Hardcover edition.
Submit a book reviewFOR RELATED BOOKS
History Books :: Caribbean & West Indies Books :: General Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0307236617
ISBN(13-digit): 9780307236616
Dewey Decimal: 972
Book Publisher: Random House Inc
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 332
Paper Weight (lb): .595 lb
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