The Pirates' Pact

Book excerpt: The Secret Alliances Between History's Most Notorious Buccaneers and Colonial America Was classical piracy an earlier version of state-sponsored terrorism? Here's the story of how almost every well-known buccaneer of the “Golden Age of Piracy” enjoyed active sponsorship from England's governors in the American colonies- setting a pattern of official disobedience to the Crown that would ultimately contribute to the American push for independence. Relying on rare primary sources discovered in government archives in England, the Carolinas, Rhode Island, Jamaica, and elsewhere, Burgess combines true tales of derring-do with groundbreaking research in this fascinating history.