Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy
By Gabriel Kuhn
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About this ebook
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.
Gabriel Kuhn
Gabriel Kuhn (born in Innsbruck, Austria, 1972) lives as an independent author and translator in Stockholm, Sweden. He received a PhD in philosophy from the University of Innsbruck in 1996. His publications with PM Press include Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy (2010; 2020); Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics (2010); Gustav Landauer: Revolution and Other Writings (2010); Erich Mühsam: Liberating Society from the State and Other Writings (2011); Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics (2011; 2018), All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 (2012), Turning Money into Rebellion (2014); Playing as if the World Mattered: An Illustrated History of Activism in Sports (2015); and Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety: Forging a Militant Working-Class Culture (2017).
Read more from Gabriel Kuhn
Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics, Second Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Life Under the Jolly Roger
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting take on pirate history, attempting to pick apart the ways in which Golden Age pirates are and aren't a useful reference point for radical activists. A lot of the usual criticisms of radicalism apply - very little attention is paid to the role of women, although at least he does repeat often that a slave-trading society should not be an uncritically accepted model for a radical utopia - but still, some good points. Kuhn isn't doing original historical research, which is a good thing, because he doesn't seem to have a good grasp on the history. (At one point he misinterprets "pirates were denied benefit of clergy at trial" to mean that pirates weren't given access to clergy before being executed, which is...not at all what that means.) If nothing else, the bibliography is phenomenal.