Villains Of Nations Summary

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Villains of Nations:Pirates and their revolt against Labor Regime Marcus Rediker is an American professor of history, who explores the dramatic world of maritime adventures. In the novel Villains of Nations, his collection of essays tells a narrative of the ‘Golden Age’ of Atlantic piracy from the perspectives of commoners, slaves, indentured servants, pirates and other outlaws. He unwraps the reader in a detailed outlook on the subfield study of pirates and maritime piracy. Rediker resisted the grandeur of admirals, merchants and nation-states; and models the culture and historical background of maritime outlaws, with a special emphasis on the pirate life, and the allure to violence and terror on the ruling classes (especially the British), which can be seen in my textbook American Horizons. Pirates could be viewed as rebels, as they sought out their own justice system, they tortured their captains as a response to the harsh treatment of sailors, but spared those whom they subjectively considered fair. In some sense their mission coincided with the folklore legend, Robin Hood. …show more content…
Most of the pirates were once poor working seamen, who were either mutinied when serial pirates seized a merchant vessel, or volunteered when pirates bombarded the vessels. There was a democratic and egalitarian culture on the ship as captains and quartermasters were chosen by popular voice votes. Pirates foment a social justice order and organized legal systems where they agreed upon a “distribution of justice” meted out by pirate crews upon their nobility victims. They showed no mercy and vociferous contempt they had for “for the merchant captain, royal official, and the system of authority those figures represented and enforced.(p.85)” Whereupon each crewmember had to abide and sign the creed of articles agreed upon by was the vagabond