Why read Women and English Piracy, 1540-1720?

Book cover of Women and English Piracy, 1540-1720: Partners and Victims of Crime

Book description

Piracy was one of the most gendered criminal activities during the early modern period. As a form of maritime enterprise and organized criminality, it attracted thousands of male recruits whose venturing acquired a global dimension as piratical activity spread across the oceans and seas of the world. At the same…

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European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked Women and English Piracy, 1540-1720 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Claire Jowitt

Author

Studies of early modern piracy often either focus on one or two exceptional women – Elizabeth I, Gráinne Ní Mháille, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read – or neglect women altogether. This book challenges assumptions about early modern women’s contribution to and involvement with piracy, exploring how female lives intersected with it in numerous and nuanced ways. Female family members often acted as receivers and dealers of stolen goods: their involvement shows agency in relation to piracy, though female victimization was also common. In fact, partnerships with women were part of the wider patterns of support pirates received from seafaring communities;…

From Claire's list on The best books on pirates in the age of sail.