Enemies of All

The pirates that exist in our imagination are not just any pirates. Violent sea-raiding has occurred in most parts of the world throughout history, but our popular stereotype of pirates has been defined by one historical moment: the period from the 1660s to the 1730s, the so-called "golden age of piracy."

A groundbreaking history of pirates, Enemies of All combines narrative adventure with deeply researched analysis, engrossing listeners in the rise of piracy in the later seventeenth century, the debates about piracy in contemporary law and popular media, as well as the imperial efforts to suppress piracy in the early eighteenth century.

The Caribbean and American colonies of Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands are the main theater for Enemies of All, but this is a global story.

Familiar characters like Drake, Morgan, Blackbeard, Bonny and Read, Henry Every, and Captain Kidd feature here, but so too will the less well-known figures from the history of piracy, their crew-members, shipmates, and their confederates ashore.

Enemies of All presents not only the historical evidence but explains the consequences of piracy's influence on colonialism and European imperial ambitions.