Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss--it's time to go a-pirating! The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit; Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious; entertaining; and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull Bones? Why did they create a "pirate code"? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful? The Invisible Hook uses economics to examine these and other infamous aspects of piracy. Leeson argues that the pirate customs we know and love resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits. The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard; Black Bart Roberts; and Calico Jack Rackam; and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy--a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers' compensation; regulated drinking and smoking; and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice--their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized. Revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history's most colorful criminals; The Invisible Hook establishes pirates' trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world.
#1385246 in Books Princeton University Press 2008-08-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.58 x .64 x 5.56l; .60 #File Name: 0691138389224 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. primary source translations/explanations re: jihad within the complex and varied tribal/political/cultural/historic settingsBy fredI plugged through his book last year. Bonner’s coverage of Jihad via the many primary source documents and references throughout the centuries was outstanding. Translations were provided. He placed the writings and poems/etc. related to jihad within their context of a frontier struggle along the outlying regions of various Islamic dynasties. The role of numerous scholar-warriors (religious leaders called “jurisconsult (faqih)†and their use of jihad in its spoken/written/fighting forms was well explained within the historical/cultural/tribal context of the times. These ghazis fought against the official state Islamic dynasty at the time and/or the threatening outside empires such as various Persia or Mongolian or Byzantine. Bonner provides great insight into the historically complex and varied expressions of jihad through the centuries.1 of 18 people found the following review helpful. otherwise good binding.By Dan SlabyCopy had numerous hi-liter markings; otherwise good binding.
