{"product_id":"charles-johnsons-general-history-of-the-pyrates-and-global-commerce-9781684485536","title":"Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates and Global Commerce","description":"A bestseller upon its publication in 1724, Charles Johnson's \u003ci\u003eGeneral History of the Pyrates \u003c\/i\u003eshaped public perceptions of piracy with its portraits of such legendary figures as Blackbeard, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, and Bartholomew Roberts. Yet despite influencing everything from \u003ci\u003eTreasure Island \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003ePeter Pan\u003c\/i\u003e, Johnson's book has yet to be taken seriously as a literary work in its own right. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This study explores how \u003ci\u003eGeneral History of the Pyrates \u003c\/i\u003ewas at the heart of early eighteenth-century British debates about commerce, colonialism, and law. Examining how pirates are depicted as both monsters and Great Men, Noel Chevalier untangles the contradictions within a Britain emerging as a colonial superpower, where ruthlessness and ambition were both feared and praised. Traveling the high seas to plunder treasure from foreign lands, pirates were not so different from the British capitalists who built fortunes from resource extraction, the plantation economy, and the transatlantic slave trade. Connecting the work to later books like \u003ci\u003eGulliver's Travels \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Beggar's Opera\u003c\/i\u003e that satirized the era and its power-hungry prime minister Robert Walpole, Chevalier shows how the pirate became an iconic figure in 1720s Britain, a time of cold-hearted capitalism and rapacious colonial expansion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNOEL CHEVALIER teaches English at Luther College at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan. The author of several articles on pirates and pirate literature, he has also edited an edition of David Garrick and George Colman's \u003ci\u003eThe Clandestine Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e and, with Min Wild, coedited \u003ci\u003eReading Christopher Smart in the Twenty-First Century\u003c\/i\u003e (Bucknell University Press).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bucknell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51424239190290,"sku":"9781684485536","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a364d6a4-4f6b-4c76-8475-76f2b8b9216e.jpg?v=1751368075","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/charles-johnsons-general-history-of-the-pyrates-and-global-commerce-9781684485536","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}