This book describes the life of a pirate in the early 18th century, the 'Golden Age of Piracy'. It charts the way these men (and a few women) were recruited, how they operated, what they looked like and what prospects their lives held. In the process the book strips away many of the myths associated with piracy to reveal the harsh realities of those who lived beyond the normal bounds of society. Written by pirate expert Angus Konstam, the book draws on decades of research into the subject, and pulls together information from a myriad of sources including official reports, contemporary newspaper reports, trial proceedings and court testimony last words on the scaffold, letters and diaries as well as archaeological evidence and relevant objects and artefacts from museum collections on both sides of the Atlantic. A must have for fans of the classic pirate stories or warfare in the early 18th century.

Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands, and is the author of over 50 books, 30 of which are published by Osprey. This acclaimed and widely published author has written several books on piracy, including The History of Pirates and Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate. A former naval officer and museum professional, he worked as the Curator of Weapons at the Tower of London and as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He now works as a full-time author and historian, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. David Rickman is a freelance scholar and illustrator who loves to reconstruct the worlds of the past. He has illustrated nine Osprey titles, four of them for Angus Konstam. His other clients include American national and state parks, museums and historic sites, as well as publishers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Spain. For 17 years David was in charge of exhibits for Delaware State Parks, where his favorite project was to furnish an American Civil War island fortress. He now lives in Wilmington, very close to the former studio of Howard Pyle, the inventor of the "pirate look," and near to the Delaware Art Museum, home to Pyle's best pirate paintings.

Giuseppe Rava was born in Faenza in 1963, and took an interest in all things military from an early age. Entirely self-taught, Giuseppe has established himself as a leading military history artist, and is inspired by the works of the great military artists, such as Detaille, Meissonier, Rochling, Lady Butler, Ottenfeld and Angus McBride. He lives and works in Italy. www.g-rava.it