Pirates of Empire: Illicit Economies and the Making of the Caribbean-Atlantic World

In the turbulent centuries of empire, the Caribbean was not merely a battlefield of nations, it was the beating heart of a global underground. Pirates of Empire reveals how smugglers, privateers, and rogue traders built an illicit economy that reshaped the Atlantic world, fueling fortunes, revolutions, and the birth of modern capitalism itself.

From Havana to Port Royal, from Bristol's counting houses to the hidden coves of Hispaniola, Davis Truman uncovers the shadow networks that thrived b...