Laura Sook Duncombe

Fantastic!! I'm starting to really fall in love with these little nonfic books of historical profiles. And this one found me at a perfect time, when it seems like all I want to read or write about is pirates...

While at times the lack of information made the stories far less powerful and memorable than intended, I still gathered lots of new fascinating facts and tales from it. The excerpts about different laws regarding pirates, types of ships, and just general context on the world were also show more great. (And helped someone with a really poor knowledge of world history like me :P )

Overall, well-researched, enjoyable, and pretty much all of it was a great surprise to me. show less

This is a nonfiction look at female pirates throughout history. I loved learning about the incredibly strong women who overcame everything from being sold in marriage to rape and became sea-faring warriors instead. Grace O'Malley was one of my favorites and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when she met Queen Elizabeth in person. The Chinese pirate, Ching Shih, was another amazing one and is considered the most successful pirate in history. The author gets side tracked at times, show more discussing film summaries and the slant that male historians have given to these women's stories. She also focuses on a few fictional pirates, which I could have skipped. show less

An engaging glimpse at the frustrations of untold histories and the lengths we must go to fill in the gaps. This is a postmodern history, so don't expect a stereotypical tome. The chapter on Sister Ping was the most provocative. Seriously, more pirate movies featuring women!

I hadn't noticed when I picked up this book that it was a YA nonfiction but it was very quickly obvious that it's aimed at a younger audience than me. A lot of history or nautical data that I'm familiar with (and which most authors will assume adults either already know or will look up on their own) was included here in sidebar-style sections. However, the additional info didn't bother me once I was prepared for it.

One thing I particularly liked about the book was how it was separated out by show more "reason for turning pirate." That made a lot of sense to me. I also particularly appreciated how the women pirates were from many different nationalities and backgrounds.

This was a more simplistic book than I was expecting (not realizing when I checked it out from my library that it was a YA nonfiction) but there were lots of other reference books listed to provide more depth for readers who are looking for extra details. It was a fast read, anyway, and a great overview on the subject of women pirates. show less