The Notorious Edward Low: Pursuing the Last Great Villain of Piracy's Golden Age

Following the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713) a decade-long wave of sea-robbery plagued the Atlantic rim—often glamorized as the "Golden Age of Piracy". Boston-based laborer, Edward Low, left his mark on pirate history as the most vicious and sadistic raider of them all. Low's reputation, and those of other pirates, was crafted through newspapers and literature. Romanticized as anti-heroes and egalitarians in a monarchical world who had liberated themselves from the constraints of law and society ashore, these marauders came to enjoy an immortality bestowed upon them by generations of historians, novelists, and movie makers. That persistent gloss masks a more sordid reality.

Travers demonstrates that, feared as they certainly were, pirates were largely ordinary seamen trapped in desperate circumstances who, in the end, had little to show for their efforts. Contrary to popular portrayals, for pirates it was a time of radically diminishing returns, scant treasure, and increasingly successful suppression by state authorities. The Notorious Edward Low puts individual actors, from colonial governors to captains to common seamen, at center stage, and reveals how British authorities used new anti-piracy laws to reclaim authority over their fractious North American colonies—a compelling story with its own brand of true-life swashbuckling on the high seas.

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