Pirates and acts of piracy were not limited to the Caribbean Sea and the 16th and 17th centuries, as we often think, but ranged far across time and place. The author describes the men of adventure who took to pirating in classical times around the Mediterranean Sea, and, later, the Vikings in the North Sea, the Algerian Corsairs, and the English who crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of (primarily) Spanish gold, as well as the pirates of Borneo and China. Biographical sketches of several well-known pirates are included: Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, Captain Avery, Captain Kidd, and Paul...