The Jolly Roger, the black flag with the skull, "the banner of the King of Death," is the most recognizable symbol of the pirates of the Golden Age. Together with the figure of the pirate that accompanies it, it has been imprinted in mass culture through literature and cinema.
Historians place Golden Age piracy in the period between 1690 and about 1725, with a geographical starting point in the Caribbean and a range of activity extending to the Indian Ocean and the west coast of Africa.
The Jolly Roger, beyond its broader consumer version, is often used to signify an act of resistance against the powerful of this world.
But who were these infamous pirates, who at the height of their historic presence never exceeded 2,500 people, and yet continue to captivate the imagination and interest around the world three centuries later?
In this book, Gabriel Kuhn records the history of Golden Age pirates through the lens of their cultural and political legacy. He questions whether the positive impression they create in popular imagination and the consistent reference to their symbols by contemporary radicals is rooted in a romantic myth or in real historical facts.
