Pirates? The Politics of Plunder 1550 - 1650

This inter-disciplinary study is the first to consider how representations of pirates addressed both national political issues and the agenda of particular interest groups. Looking at a variety of well-known and neglected figures and texts, as well as canonical ones, it shows how attitudes to piracy and privateering were debated and contested between 1550 and 1650. This collection of broad-ranging essays by international figures offers a new perspective on an early modern cultural phenomenon, and satisfies the need for a scholarly, in-depth analysis of this important topic in Renaissance history.