Ian W. Toll
Above all, Pirates of Barbary reminds us that history, whatever else it is, is also a genre of literature. It always has been, ever since it was first written down by the ancient chroniclers. You can scour it all you like for insights, arguments and conclusions. But it's still worth reading if only because it's bloody good entertainment.
—The New York Times
Booklist
For those who think of pirates as one-eyed rogues proclaiming ‘shiver me timbers’ while flying the Jolly Roger, this interesting and exciting work will be full of surprises.”
New York Times
Bloody good entertainment.”
From the Publisher
"Tinniswood gives us both a rollicking narrative and a rich brew of early modern maritime history." ---Publishers Weekly
MARCH 2011 - AudioFile
Tinniswood touches on pirating in the Horn of Africa today, but mostly he sticks to an account of the Barbary pirates of the Mediterranean in the seventeenth century. He offers personal tales of high adventure, quoted from slaves and sailors, captains and officials, gleaned from publications of the day. He also provides historical facts about international relations and the era's nation states. Clive Chafer’s British voice has a conversational tone and pace. Sometimes he mimics foreign voices and high-toned British officials but not often because the book doesn’t lend itself to dramatization. While Chafer provides a good narration, it’s primarily the subject matter that holds the listener’s attention. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Exciting history of 17th-century piracy among African city-states.
Prolific British historian Tinniswood (The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War, and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England, 2008, etc.) demonstrates an excellent grasp of obscure sources in crafting a comprehensive synthesis. He argues that the notorious, reviled "Barbary corsairs" have been historically misunderstood: "An underlying racism and a more overt anti-Islamism make it hard to imagine Captain Blood or Jack Sparrow as North African Muslims." The author theorizes that piracy was state-supported and a key economic requirement for the development of Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli (allied with the Ottoman Empire) and independent Morocco, and further was encouraged as a "sea-jihad," an Islamic counterweight to European ambitions in the Mediterranean. While the British and other European powers belittled the Turks and Moors as savages, the situation was ethically muddied by their intermittent encouragement of privateering during various wars—these governments routinely issued "letters of marque" that essentially gave captains the right of piracy over ships flying enemy colors. Furthermore, both European and Barbary states routinely enslaved and ransomed captives; the specter of white slaves being held by African Muslims inflamed British society and contributed to numerous campaigns. Some of the European attempts blockade Barbary ports became comedies of error; others turned tragic or brutal, such as the French mortaring of Algiers. The pirates themselves were a diverse lot, especially following a 1612 amnesty. Many were British subjects who "turned Turk" (sometimes claiming coercion later when captured), while others were fearless Islamists who viewed attacking European ships as both good business and a strike against infidel encroachment (Tinniswood emphasizes the parallels with contemporary geopolitics only in the preface, regarding Somali piracy, but they are apparent.) This approach was epitomized by a 1631 raid on the Irish coastal town of Baltimore, which enslaved dozens. Throughout, the writing is precise and mordant but also witty, allowing the reader to feel empathy for the rough and absurd lives of these long-ago mariners, and agree with the author's conclusion that whatever the corsairs' faults, a lack of courage was not among them.
Rigorous and sophisticated.
