Pirates and Piracy

Herrmann, OscarProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 36K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Pirates and Piracy by Oscar HerrmannAuthor: Herrmann, Oscar,Language: English, Class: JX: Political science: International law, Release Date: Mar 8, 2010

Editor's review

What makes this book distinctive is its angle: rather than telling pirate legends, it discusses pirates and piracy within the framework of international law. The author, Herrmann, treats the question of piracy within the classifications of political science and international law, addressing such issues as the legal definition of piracy, jurisdiction, and order at sea; it belongs to the JX class of international law literature. For readers accustomed to literary narratives of piracy, this book offers another perspective—how piracy is defined by law and countered by states. The text is a public-domain e-book of limited length, written in an expository style, and is not meant as light reading. Its value lies in providing an institutional and juridical frame of reference for reading pirate history: after reading the legends, seeing how the law describes the same people creates an interesting tension. It is best read alongside introductory materials on international law.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and readers interested in international law and the law of the sea
History enthusiasts who want to understand piracy from an institutional angle
Undergraduates who need materials on the legal definition of piracy for coursework
Readers who enjoy reading literary narratives against legal texts

Not a good fit for

Casual readers looking for pirate adventure stories and legendary figures
Readers impatient with legal terminology and expository English
Beginners seeking a systematic textbook-style treatment of international law

Reading tips

First read an introductory work on international law to grasp the basic concepts of jurisdiction and order at sea before turning to this book.
After reading, compare it with pirate literature or films and note the differences between legal description and popular imagination.
Extract the passages on the definition of piracy and read them against the relevant articles of contemporary conventions.
The book is short enough to read in one sitting; then go back and organize the author's core arguments and structure of reasoning.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book about pirate stories?

No. It discusses pirates and piracy from the perspective of international law and political science; it belongs to the JX class of international law literature and focuses on legal definitions and institutional responses rather than adventure narratives.

Do I need a legal background to read it?

Some general knowledge of international law makes it easier, but the text is short and tightly argued, and general readers can follow it with introductory materials. Readers with no background at all should build up the context first.

Is it suitable as a course reference?

It is suitable as supplementary reading for courses on pirate history, the law of the sea, or international law, especially for comparing how literary narratives and legal texts treat piracy differently.

Comments

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About the author

Herrmann, Oscar Author

Oscar Herrmann is an author about whom publicly available information is currently limited; details such as his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded. According to the existing catalog data, only one work by him is held, namely Pirates and Piracy. Judging from the title alone, the book appears to belong to the genre of maritime history or popular history, dealing with the activities and organization of pirates in history and their impact on seafaring and trade. Owing to the scarcity of further material, it is not possible to establish Herrmann's writing style, scholarly stance, or the specific content and reception of the book, nor whether he produced other works or worked long-term in a particular field. Readers interested in the author and his book should rely primarily on the work itself and verify it against reliable bibliographic and publishing information, rather than drawing excessive inferences from scattered data.