Under the Black Flag - Book

David Cordingly spent twelve years on the staff of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. For this history he drew on eyewitness accounts, court documents and national archives to show how pirates attacked, governed themselves, dressed and sailed, why they flourished in the years around 1720, and what brought their era to an end.

Along with figures such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Mary Read and Anne Bonny, the book traces how fictional pirates like Captain Hook and Long John Silver shaped the popular image. Random House Trade Paperbacks published this 336-page edition in 2006.