May 23, 2022

In June 2022, my new book, Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read will be published in the United States – during Pride Month. My new book is the first full-length biography of these women in which I construct the mysteries about their early lives before piracy, lives as pirates, and I…

July 7, 2021

Hi! In case you didn’t know, my first book Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How He Changed Piracy Forever will be published on November 24 in paperback, ebook, and audiobook! I’m publishing it with the independent press Mango Publishing. My book is intended for a “popular audience,” which means it’s accessible to…

July 5, 2021

I was lucky enough to teach the history of Atlantic piracy at my independent school. In fact, that’s actually why I was hired. The department chair thought the subject would be a great thing to bring to the middle school humanities curriculum. At first I wondered how I’d fit it in and make it a…

July 2, 2021

It’s getting close to back to school time here so I thought I’d do an exploration on pirates and literacy. Several people have asked me over the years if pirates were literate. Written materials by pirates are so far between that you could argue they’re non-existent, while other ships had full surviving accounts. Therefore, the…