Pirates and politicians: what a 300-year-old book about the most notorious buccaneers reveals about British politics

By Richard Blakemore, Associate Professor in Social and Maritime History, University of Reading

Three hundred years ago, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson first hit the shelves of London’s booksellers. The book aimed, according to Johnson, to give “a distinct Relation of every Pyrate who has made any Figure”.

Here were all the fabled plunderers of the seas: Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonny and Mary Read and many others. More than any other book, the General History changed the way…

Read complete article

~	Peru Walks Back Anti-Trans Guidance in Health System

~	Labour v SNP: the general election is a closer race in Scotland

~	Black-affirming campus spaces are vital for Black student academic success

~	Gazans’ extreme hunger could leave its mark on subsequent generations

~	Supreme Court rejects settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over legal protections for the Sackler family that owned the company

~	Want to help our precious nocturnal bugs during Matariki’s longer nights? Turn the lights down low

~	Friday essay: ‘why is it always on public transport?’ – racist threats have shaped, but not defeated me

~	What’s next for the Climate Change Authority under Matt Kean’s leadership?

~	Young people hate making phone calls – could it be hurting their careers?

~	A ‘trilobite Pompeii’: perfectly preserved fossils of ancient sea critters found buried in volcanic ash