Pirates

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Saved by Captain Johnson? - Rated
If you are a fan of Defoe and want to read about pirates and their cutlasses then this is the book you need. It was published under the name of Captain Charles Johnson, no doubt to protect its author from the retaliation of ones such as Captain Avery - then in England - whose case the book deals with first. Avery had had a play written about (or by) him called The Successful Pirate, and a book called The King of the Pirates, and A General History of the Pyrates is a scathing attack against their pretentions. Because of his history as a pirate Avery would not have been able to visit the naval records office to check up on his adversary, hence the security and reason presumably for the name. Subsequent research in the naval records have shown that no such fish as Captain Charles Johnson had existed. His name is fictional.

The American Defoe scholar John Robert Moore identified it as being Defoe's and it certainly adds to his tally of great works.

A very good source - Rated
If you are at all interested in the age of piracy, this book is a must for you. It is just about contemporary - 1724 - with all the big names in piracy - Black Bart, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, amongst many others and also includes the two famous women pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read - and there is a really authentic ring about the text. It is occasionally a bit tedious, but at the same time, the details that Capt Johnson - whoever he was - goes into give you a real feel for the period and the characters. I think it is excellent.