This vivid social history of Atlantic piracy focuses on its colourful Golden Age, from 1716 to 1726, the age of the dreaded black flag, the Jolly Roger, as well as swashbuckling figures such as Edward Teach, better known, of course, as Blackbeard. These outcasts of all nations imagined - and succeeded in forging - a better world than they had found on the merchant and naval ships on which they had previously worked: they democratically elected their officers; they divided their booty in egalitarian ways, and they fought against the common vicious abuse of sailors. The historical truth about what pirates actually did proves more compelling than the romantic fiction that has grown up around them.