Early and more than once in "Lafitte The Pirate" (first published in 1930), author Lyle Saxon concedes that distilling truth from legend in researching Jean Lafitte's life is a difficult task. When Saxon wrote this book about a century after the notorious pirate's (noble privateer's? esteemed war hero's?) death, he could uncover no authoritative records conclusively stating even such mundane information as when or where Lafitte was born or died. Accordingly, it's unsurprising that Saxon's chronicle of Lafitte's life between those estimated dates is tinged with at least as much myth as fact. The book's consequent and considerable flaws as an accurate historical treatise on Lafitte also render "Lafitte the Pirate" a grand and very entertaining story. While toiling as best he can within the limitations of available sources of varying reliability in detailing Lafitte's life, Saxon strives mightily and successfully to compensate for those limitations by conveying with admirable aptitude the fascinating social, cultural and political atmosphere of New Orleans and Louisiana during Lafitte's lifetime. After all, the back stories to Lafitte's adventures include the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War of Independence, in each of which "Captain" Lafitte participated for nobility or profit (mostly profit) to one degree or another. The book's large cast of supporting characters, ranging from shady New Orleans ruffians, lawyers and politicians to famous (and often shady) American judges, generals and presidents, makes this entertaining work well worth reading by anyone interested not only in Lafitte himself, but in the man's time and place during a seminal period in American history. ( )

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