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The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd (2002)

by Richard Zacks

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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8841123,998 (3.73)24
Captain Kidd has gone down in history as America's most ruthless buccaneer, fabulously rich, burying treasure up and down the eastern seaboard. But it turns out that most everyone, from novelists to scholars, has the story all wrong. Captain William Kidd was no career cutthroat; he was a tough, successful New York sea captain who was hired to chase pirates in the 1690s. His three-year odyssey aboard the aptly named Adventure Galley would pit him against arrogant Royal Navy commanders, jealous East India Company captains, storms, starvation, angry natives, and, above all, flesh-and-blood pirates. Captain Kidd found himself facing a long-forgotten rogue by the name of Robert Culliford, who lured Kidd's crew to mutiny not once but twice. Through painstaking research, author Richard Zacks has pieced together the never-before-told story of Kidd versus Culliford, of pirate hunter versus pirate, as they fought each other in an unscripted duel across the oceans of the world. One man would hang in the harbor; the other would walk away with the treasure. The Pirate Hunter delivers something rare: an authentic pirate story for grown-ups.… (more)
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English (10)  Finnish (1)  All languages (11)
Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
Wonderful and informative account of the history of Captain William Kidd. Zacks has done an incredible amount of research in finding the real story of Captain Kidd and his subsequent trial for piracy. The book has just the right balance of novel style writing blended with facts and figures. It gives a good insight into the workings of the English system of law in the early 18th century, and how frightening it could be if you were on the wrong side of it. The audiobook version, narrated by Michael Prichard, is well recorded. ( )
  kelleysgirl76 | Sep 16, 2022 |
This was a really well done book telling Captain Kidd’s actual story. I enjoyed Zack’s writing style, and he introduces each chapter well. However, while he did manage to keep the story interesting and easy to read, there were occasions where it was harder to focus due to a few lengthy descriptions. I did enjoy this book, though, and I do recommend it. ( )
  historybookreads | Jul 26, 2021 |
The Pirate Hunter, by Richard Zacks, completely turned around any notion I had about the notorious Captain Kidd. Zacks research shows that Captain Kidd's reputation as a villain and terror on the high seas was undeserved. Rather, it appears that Kidd was maligned by others for a variety of reasons, which ultimately led to his capture, trial, execution, and his historical reputation as a pirate.

Zacks narrative gives the reader an appreciation of what life in Britain and the Colonies was like at the end of the 17th Century, and what a sailors life was like in those times. Also interesting was how others in that era, including rogue pirates such as Robert Culliford, were pardoned for their crimes, while Kidd, apparently innocent of acts of piracy, ended up being condemned.

The book may have been a little longer than necessary, and some of the detail added didn't justify inclusion in terms of painting the picture of Kidd's life. But in fairness to the author, I'm sure that if I had spent as much time as he must have done in digging up all the historical facts from these times, I wouldn't have wanted them to go unrecorded either. ( )
  rsutto22 | Jul 15, 2021 |
Arrrgh! ( )
  parloteo | Dec 21, 2019 |
Reviews on this book seem a bit mixed, which puzzles me a bit. I found it to be a wonderful read, bringing to life characters such as Captain Kidd and Captain Culliford. I had known little about Kidd before reading this except that he was purportedly one of the most notable pirates of the 17th century. The truth is far from this, his mistake not becoming a pirate, but trusting powerful, greedy people when his luck was down and they would be liable to face scandal. Along the way I learned a bit about what the pirate life was really like (not as romantic as the movies, which was no surprise really) and the English justice system, which makes me glad to have what we have today. As many faults as our system has, it is a vast improvement over what Kidd faced. The real irony was that Kidd, who refused to turn pirate was hanged for being a pirate, while a number of members of his crew who did turn pirate received pardons. ( )
  bness2 | May 23, 2017 |
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Richard Zacksprimary authorall editionscalculated
Tiirinen, MikaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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New York in the summer of 1696 was an ink spot on the tip of the map of Manhattan, a struggling seaport with a meager population of 5,000, about a fifth of them African slaves.
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Captain Kidd has gone down in history as America's most ruthless buccaneer, fabulously rich, burying treasure up and down the eastern seaboard. But it turns out that most everyone, from novelists to scholars, has the story all wrong. Captain William Kidd was no career cutthroat; he was a tough, successful New York sea captain who was hired to chase pirates in the 1690s. His three-year odyssey aboard the aptly named Adventure Galley would pit him against arrogant Royal Navy commanders, jealous East India Company captains, storms, starvation, angry natives, and, above all, flesh-and-blood pirates. Captain Kidd found himself facing a long-forgotten rogue by the name of Robert Culliford, who lured Kidd's crew to mutiny not once but twice. Through painstaking research, author Richard Zacks has pieced together the never-before-told story of Kidd versus Culliford, of pirate hunter versus pirate, as they fought each other in an unscripted duel across the oceans of the world. One man would hang in the harbor; the other would walk away with the treasure. The Pirate Hunter delivers something rare: an authentic pirate story for grown-ups.

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