Status
Available
Call number
Publication
PM Press (2020), Edition: Second edition, 304 pages
Description
An ideological battle rages over the political legacy and cultural symbolism of the golden age pirates who roamed the seas between the Caribbean islands and the Indian Ocean from 1690 to 1725. On the one hand pirates are romanticised as swash-buckling villains, whilst on the other they are realised as genuine social rebels. LIFE UNDER THE JOLLY ROGER examines the political and cultural significance of these nomadic outlaws by relating historical accounts to a wide range of theoretical concepts - ranging from Marshall Sahlins and Pierre Clastres to Nietzche.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
An interesting take on pirate history, attempting to pick apart the ways in which Golden Age pirates are and aren't a useful reference point for radical activists. A lot of the usual criticisms of radicalism apply - very little attention is paid to the role of women, although at least he does
Show More
repeat often that a slave-trading society should not be an uncritically accepted model for a radical utopia - but still, some good points. Kuhn isn't doing original historical research, which is a good thing, because he doesn't seem to have a good grasp on the history. (At one point he misinterprets "pirates were denied benefit of clergy at trial" to mean that pirates weren't given access to clergy before being executed, which is...not at all what that means.) If nothing else, the bibliography is phenomenal. Show Less
Physical description
9 inches
ISBN
1629637939 / 9781629637938