Pirate Women, Laura Sook Duncombe
Pirate Women, Laura Sook Duncombe
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Pirate Women
The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas

Author: Laura Sook Duncombe

Narrator: Hillary Huber

Unabridged: 9 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/04/2017


Synopsis

In the first-ever Seven Seas history of the world's female buccaneers, Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas tells the story of women, both real and legendary, who through the ages sailed alongside—and sometimes in command of—their male counterparts. These women came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom. History has largely ignored these female swashbucklers, until now. Here are their stories, from ancient Norse princess Alfhild and warrior Rusla to Sayyida al-Hurra of the Barbary corsairs; from Grace O'Malley, who terrorized shipping operations around the British Isles during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I; to Cheng I Sao, who commanded a fleet of four hundred ships off China in the early nineteenth century.

Author Laura Sook Duncombe also looks beyond the stories to the storytellers and mythmakers. What biases and agendas motivated them? What did they leave out? Pirate Women explores why and how these stories are told and passed down, and how history changes depending on who is recording it. It's the most comprehensive overview of women pirates in one volume and chock-full of swashbuckling adventures that pull these unique women from the shadows into the spotlight that they deserve.

About Laura Sook Duncombe

Laura Sook Duncombe is an author and feminist who loves all things science fiction, Broadway, and Sherlock Holmes. She lives with her wonderful husband and son in Virginia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Clare on June 28, 2018

As a longtime pirate aficionado and an even more longtime women's history aficionado, I was pretty stoked to find a copy of Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers who Ruled the Seven Seas at Porter Square Books this summer. I'd missed the author event, which I was bummed to find......more

Goodreads review by Devann on June 12, 2018

This book ...is hard to rate. I see a LOT of 2 star ratings on the front page here and I definitely agree with what they are saying, although I did manage to get enough enjoyment out of this to bump it up to 3 stars instead. My main reason for doing that is because I DID learn a lot of cool things f......more

Goodreads review by Joe on September 26, 2017

This was a short but hard-to-read book that belies its whimsical title and well-designed book jacket. I chose this book after the author's appearance on NPR's This American Life where she was interviewed about a specific Chinese pirate queen. Based on the entertaining story she told on the radio sho......more

Goodreads review by Carolyn on May 03, 2018

I expected the book to be a series of short biographies of female pirates throughout history but Duncombe is instead as interested in the idea of female pirates in their respective cultural contexts as the women themselves. The early chapters are surprisingly dull as Duncombe discusses Viking and Ot......more