The Pirate Myth: Genealogies of an Imperial concept

September 9, 2015

The English pirate Edward Teach (c 1680-1718, pictured), “assumed the Cognomen of Black-beard, from that large Quantity of Hair, which, like a frightful Meteor, covered his whole Face, and frightened America more than any Comet that has appeared there a long Time” (Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most …