It shouldn’t be possible to write a boring book about pirates, but I found one.
And maybe it’s me. But to stave off the boredom, I began
reading another non-fiction book, and it’s much more compelling.
The book in question is “Under the Black Flag: The Romance
and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates,” by David Cordingly, who apparently
has a long history with maritime history and has written several books.
I think a lot of the problem is the telling, not the
showing. There’s lots of third-person telling in this book, and that removes
the reader from the story, or the action, or what have you. When Cordingly does
quote from records, things get more vivid, or at least a lot more peppered with
the word “ye.” I can imagine a battle going on in the historian’s brain, not
wanting to embellish or assume anything. But it is the historians who write
more like novelists that capture my interest and bring me closer to the history
they love, and I think for the most part they do it with an eye on accuracy.
I’m not disputing that Cordingly’s book has no value – I’m
certain it’s quite a valuable bit of research for anyone wanting to know more
about pirates, wanting to write about pirates and the like. I do know that for
general reading, it’s a bit on the dull side.
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