Front Cover -- Copyright -- Contents -- 0. Introduction -- 1. Background -- 1.1. Privateers, Buccaneers, Pirates: Matters Of Terminology -- 1.2. What "Golden Age?" A Little History -- 2. "Enemy of His Own Civilization" An Ethnography of Golden Age Piracy -- 2.1. "From the Sea": Maritime Nomads -- 2.2. "Smooth" vs. "Striated": The Question of Space -- 2.3. Pirate Captains and Indian Chiefs: Remembering Pierre Clastres -- 2.4. Potlatches, Zero-Production, and Parasitism: Pirate Economy -- 2.5. No State, No Accumulation, No History: Pirates as "Primitives"? -- 2.6. "Cultural Contact": Pirates and the Non-European People of the Caribbean -- 3. "Social Origins," or The European Legacy Golden Age Piracy and Cultural Studies -- 3.1. Fashion, Food, Fun, Lingo: Circumscribing the Pirate Subculture -- 3.2. "Villains of all Nations?": Piracy and (Trans)Nationality -- 3.3. Satanists and Sabbatarians: Piracy and Religion -- 3.4. A Colorful Atlantic? Piracy and Race -- 3.5. Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and a Co-opted Myth: Piracy and Gender -- 3.6. On Sodomites and Prostitutes: Piracy and Sexuality -- 3.7. Escaping Discipline and "Biopolitics": The Pirate Body -- 3.8. Eye Patches, Hook Hands, and Wooden Legs: Piracy and Disability -- 4. "Ni dieu, ni maître" Golden Age Piracy and Politics -- 4.1. From "Brethren of the Coast" to a "Commonwealth of Outlaws": Pirate Organization -- 4.2. Flying the Black Flag: The Jolly Roger -- 4.3. Is This Anarchy? Matters of Definition I -- 4.4. The War Machine: Reading Piracy with Deleuze and Guattari -- 4.5. Tactics: Pirates and Guerrilla Warfare -- 4.6. Revolutionary, Radical, and Proletarian Pirates? Matters of Definition II -- 4.7. Pirates as Social Bandits: Homage to E. J. Hobsbawm -- 4.8. Libertalia: Another Reading -- 4.9. Safe Havens, Onshore Settlements, Pirate Utopias: Pirates on Land.

4.10. "Piratical Imperialism," Hypocrisy, and the Merchants' Wrath: Piracy and Capitalism -- 4.11. Victims of Circumstance or Bloodthirsty Sadists? Piracy and Violence -- 4.12. Vengeance as Justice: Pirate Ethics -- 4.13. Dionysus in the West Indies: A Nietzschean Look at Golden Age Piracy -- 5. Conclusion: The Golden Age Pirates' Political Legacy -- 6. Notes on Pirate Literature -- 7. Bibliography -- Notes -- Index.

Dissecting the conflicting views of the golden age of pirates—as romanticized villains on one hand and genuine social rebels on the other—this fascinating chronicle explores the political and cultural significance of these nomadic outlaws by examining a wide range of ethnographical, sociological, and philosophical standards. The meanings of race, gender, sexuality, and disability in pirate communities are analyzed and contextualized, as are the pirates' forms of organization, economy, and ethics. Going beyond simple swashbuckling adventures, the examination also discusses the pirates' self-organization, the internal make-up of the crews, and their early-1700s philosophies—all of which help explain who they were and what they truly wanted. Asserting that pirates came in all shapes, sexes, and sizes, this engaging study ultimately portrays pirates not just as mere thieves and killers but as radical activists with their own society and moral code fighting against an empire.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.