Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune by Keith Thomson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is fantastic! The history is well written, researched, explained with gold nuggets spread throughout inserted brilliantly.

First, if you’ll note my reviews, I do not get a NetGalley offer and praise it up and down hoping for print recognition. I’ve skewed most because most newly written books have proven to me to be demonstrably worthless.

I find the usual issue are political views being lodged into the narrative and then flogging the reader with the views over and over again. I get it if the book is prefaced upon political ideas. Even found one writer expounding political gunk throughout a horrid history of Looney Tunes cartoons!

Writer Thomson writes history as history should be written, as it happened with supporting documentation. Thomson also does what is rare to find in most histories ever written, dates and years of happenings. This so much aids the reader as to context and connecting ongoing events. This last is the spine that all else emanates as the narrative pours out extensive details and stories of the travels of the pirating privateers and those they encounter. Additional background is sprinkled that adds to the shine of the history with, no doubt, exclamations of, “Oh! I didn’t know that!” I love the way he connects various everyday items of today to the goings-on in the late 1600s.

The writing is also crisp and vibrant. There’s more than the occasional writer who makes history as a fictional novel. This is far better than that. The writing excels between what could be dry history and fictional dialogue to support the narrative. Thomson skillfully maneuvers the documented historical perspectives into a solid presentation that compels reading more and more. In this case it’s the wonder of who survives and how.

Well worth reading and likely to lead in those that don’t even like history or pirates. For those of us who has history as part of our profession, this is a must-read.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. Ten out of ten points.

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