Under The Black Flag Summary

David Cordingly is a maritime historian and the author of many historical pirate books. Cordingly’s book Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates shows how the pirates of fictional works have shifted from the reality of pirates’ lifestyles. The book describes the life of pirate crews along with documented evidence as proof to make the book fascinating and full of interesting information. The purpose of the book is to tell the real story of pirates who lived in the past based on documented evidence. The book tells the original stories of people and crews without the changing of the story for entertainment purposes. Cordingly exposes more of the brutal parts of a pirate’s lifestyle that most books and movies tend …show more content…

One fictional story discussed in Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates is Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. About this book Cordingly remarked “The effect of Treasure Island on our perception of pirates cannot be overestimated. Stevenson linked pirates forever with maps, black schooners, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulders”(7). Cordingly believes Treasure Island was a major part of forming the widespread image of pirates. Cordingly’s book compares the information in Treasure Island and other works that are similar in an attempt to find where the creative features have come …show more content…

It gives the stories of different pirates without straying from the facts, but still manages to keep interest. Cordingly is not afraid to say when the facts are unclear or uncertain, and gives different theories on what may have occurred. The book also does not generalize for all pirates with one statement. Cordingly may state a fact from one instance, but says that others may have done things differently. Since pirates often came from many different backgrounds, they probably often did things differently from each other. Cordingly includes facts from pirates who are not usually talked about, instead of just talking about the popular stories of pirates who sailed in the Caribbean. The book also includes pirates from many different time periods, and how they operated differently from one another. Cordingly’s book Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates tells the story of many different pirates of different time periods by the facts. The book uses evidence from first hand sources to combat the image of pirates produced by fictional books, plays, and films. Cordingly explains where the fictional ideas may have come from using the evidence from the past. The stories are retold while still keeping the interest of the audience without having to stray from the factual