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Angus Konstam

Author of The History of Pirates

177 Works 5,235 Members 39 Reviews

About the Author

Originally from the Orkney Islands, Angus Konstam was the curator of arms and armor at the Tower of London and is currently the chief curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, FL, setting up major exhibitions throughout the eastern seaboard of North America. He is the author of show more Historical Atlas of Exploration for Facts On File/Checkmark Books and lives in Key West. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Uncredited image from author's website.

Series

Works by Angus Konstam

The History of Pirates (1999) 216 copies, 2 reviews
Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate (2006) 131 copies, 2 reviews
Historical Atlas of Exploration: 1492-1600 (2000) 102 copies, 1 review
Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars (1996) 84 copies, 1 review
Historical Atlas of the Viking World (2002) 69 copies, 1 review
Naval miscellany (2010) 69 copies, 2 reviews
Pirates 1660-1730 (1998) 66 copies
The Forts of Celtic Britain (2006) 66 copies
British Forts in the Age of Arthur (2008) 50 copies, 2 reviews
Buccaneers 1620-1700 (2000) 47 copies
Historical Atlas of the Napoleonic Era (2003) 44 copies, 2 reviews
Confederate Raider 1861-65 (New Vanguard) (2003) 44 copies, 1 review
Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece (2003) 42 copies, 1 review
The History of Shipwrecks (1999) 39 copies
Pirate: The Golden Age (2011) 34 copies
Marlborough (Command) (2010) 27 copies
Horatio Nelson (Command) (2011) 25 copies
Civil War Ghost Stories (2005) 19 copies
British Commando 1940-45 (2016) 14 copies
Pirates of the Seven Seas (2010) 12 copies
America Speaks (2005) 8 copies
Osprey Fleet, 5 (2024) 7 copies, 1 review
There Was a Soldier (2009) 6 copies
Lock & Load (2002) 4 copies
Pirates! (Trade Editions) (1998) 3 copies
La armada invencible (2011) 2 copies
Metla moří (2007) 1 copy
Berlin (2008) 1 copy
Wyprawy krzyżowe (2005) 1 copy
100 Greatest Battles (2023) 1 copy

Tagged

16th century (29) 18th century (33) American Civil War (96) atlas (53) Battleships (27) black (52) Britain (37) campaign (41) Civil War (80) Europe (38) European History (28) history (543) medieval (26) military (157) military history (243) naval (245) Naval History (91) naval warfare (41) Navy (59) New Vanguard (77) non-fiction (159) Osprey (344) Osprey Campaign (31) Osprey New Vanguard (93) pirates (139) red (52) reference (51) Renaissance (30) Royal Navy (97) Russia (26) SB (27) ships (85) TCE (53) to-read (79) USA (36) war (48) Warships (44) WWI (30) WWII (198) xl (28)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

Profusely illustrated with new artwork, 3D diagrams and maps, Konstam provides a detailed description of the Home Fleet during the first years of the war, covering many topics from the capabilities of the warships to logistics and intelligence-gathering, to how fleet organization and command.
 
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Derek_Law | Sep 11, 2024 |
"The Pirate Menace" by Angus Konstam is an overview of piracy in the Caribbean, specifically between 1690s and ~1718, beginning in Jamaica. Before the earthquake of 1692, Port Royal was the busiest harbor in the Caribbean. Port Royal was home to the original buccaneers, Henry Morgan, and a constant threat of French privateers. When a Spanish treasure fleet sank in 1715, Jamaican privateers-turned-pirates Henry Jennings and John Wills clashed with pirate Benjamin Hornigold for a bit of the bullion. They eventually joined forces and Jennings witnessed the true pirate haven that Hornigold built in Nassau. Searching for more gold, Jennings encounters pirates Black Sam Bellamy, his cohort Pulsgrave Williams, two of the most successful pirates. We then meet the infamous Blackbeard, who originally sailed with Hornigold; and where there's Blackbeard, there's Stede Bonnet. Then of course there's Charles Vane, the leader of Nassau and Calico Jack! Eventually the era would end with the death of Bartholomew Roberts.

Overall a lively read, but it's a good thing I've read other piracy books already. It actually covers the pirate community of the later years rather than the entirety of the Golden Age, but it's dense! In the first two chapters, names fly by as Konstam sets the stage for Nassau. Throughout, there's not enough context for larger political events, and English vs Spanish vs French can be confusing. Corrupt Royal governors were actually the major cause of the early rise of piracy, but this isn't really discussed until Gov. Spotswood and Woodes Rogers emerge. There are also a few unnecessary diversions, which could've been removed to lighten the narrative. However, I thought the chapter on the structure of the pirate community was the best. Konstam successfully argues that it was a "commune" rather than a "republic." I would definitely read more of Konstam's work if they chose a narrower topic and would've enjoyed this more if say, it had focused solely on Jennings and Hornigold.
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½
 
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asukamaxwell | Jun 6, 2024 |
I LOVED it. I was always excited to pick it up and there was the perfect amount of text and maps for me to understand and visualise what was going on. I plan on reading all of the other available historical atlas books.
 
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ChariseH | 1 other review | May 25, 2024 |
It's been some time since I've read an account of the hunt for the "Scharnhorst," probably a short overview by Vincent O'Hara in his survey of German surface-ship actions, so I wanted to read something with a little more detail. Konstam does a very good job giving you a concise telling of this fight, putting it into contemporary strategic context, and taking into account the impact of "Ultra," as the British were prepared to use a convoy as bait. This last point almost bit the British back, as the German destroyer escort came close to tripping over the British convoy on their own.

As for the fight itself, the short version is radar - don't leave home without it. In a fight fought mostly in darkness in a howling gale, the gunnery of the "Scharnhorst" was severely limited due to electronic inferiority, though she wound up dying very hard; Konstam tersely describes the action as an "execution." This is particularly since only 36 men survived; Admiral Erich Bey and the other 2000-odd crewmen going to the deep.

The thought that comes to mind is that this action is a last reflection of the institutional cultures the British and German naval forces came out of the Great War with. The British being fixated on aggressive action when the opportunity presented itself, a result of the botched hunt for the "Goeben" and the disappointment of Jutland. The Germans trying to maintain a fleet in being, while at the same time keeping themselves relevant, and living down the mutiny of the surface fleet in 1918. From this battle on, the British are looking for ways to make themselves useful to an American naval hierarchy who really doesn't want them, and the German naval command is trying to salvage a useful submarine force, while offering assistance to the German war effort in the Baltic.
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Flagged
Shrike58 | Dec 2, 2023 |

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Caroline Klima Übersetzer

Statistics

Works
177
Members
5,235
Popularity
#4,764
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
39
ISBNs
364
Languages
13

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