NetGalley ARC | The Hunt for Blackbeard: The World's Most Notorious Pirate

I received a free digital copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating ⭐

Short Version:

His real name was probably Edward Teach. He did bad stuff. He lit his beard on fire to scare the bejeezus out of his prey. He died. We don't know many actual facts about Blackbeard so we're going to repeat ourselves constantly and make guesses. The end.

Marginally Longer Version:

The title is misleading if you don't sit and think about it for a minute. Given the fact that there is so little actual information known about the most notorious pirate who ever lived, it makes sense that the authors had to scour documents of the period for any information about him, seeing as how there's been nothing discovered in his own hand.

Even then, I was expecting more.

We learn far more about the "Golden Age of Piracy" and the other major and minor players than we do about Blackbeard. Anything that is verifiable is stuff we already know, there's no great cache of new information. The book, then, isn't really about him. It does nothing to penetrate the 300 years worth of legend and myth that has grown since his death. I wanted know to more about how his legend grew, how were the stories about him spread, and by whom, until he became this larger-than-life character that some people don't even know was a real person?

Pass.