Villains of All Nations Audiobook By Marcus Rediker cover art

Villains of All Nations

Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Villains of All Nations

By: Marcus Rediker
Narrated by: Cornell Womack
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.00

Buy for $18.00

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

Villains of All Nations explores the "Golden Age" of Atlantic piracy (1716-1726) and the infamous generation whose images underlie our modern, romanticized view of pirates.

Rediker introduces us to the dreaded black flag, the Jolly Roger; swashbuckling figures such as Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard; and the unnamed, unlimbed pirate who was likely Robert Louis Stevenson's model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

This history shows from the bottom up how sailors emerged from deadly working conditions on merchant and naval ships, turned pirate, and created a starkly different reality aboard their own ships, electing their officers, dividing their booty equitably, and maintaining a multinational social order. The real lives of this motley crew - which included cross-dressing women, people of color, and the "outcasts of all nations" - are far more compelling than contemporary myth.

©2004 Marcus Rediker (P)2019 Random House Audio
18th Century Europe Maritime History & Piracy Modern Politics & Government Sociology World
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup

Critic reviews

"Marcus Rediker knows pirates, and he knows how to tell a story. Villains of All Nations is a must read; don't wait for the movie!" (Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination)

All stars
Most relevant  
Interesting analysis from a Marxist perspective bordering on hero worship. Informative nonetheless. 1, 2, 3.

The details

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Loved it, the author does a great job of telling the story of pirates and all they did and done to them; the good and the bad.

Great history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The story was interesting and full of unrecognized pirates. However, it was kind a rehash of The General History of Pirates, by Charles Johnson, who was a fictitious person.

Interesting and worth a listen too

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.