The Pirate Hunter

I just finished reading The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks. I have heard of late that there was a legend that Captain Kidd buried some treasure (according to the book there were a lot of those stories) on Maine's own Jewell Island, so I decided I wanted to read more about this Captain Kidd. I've had this fascination with pirates of late anyway, so I figured it would be a good read.

To start with, Zacks was well informed and had done an immense amount of research into Captain Kidd. The story of this privateer's life was very interesting and this book certainly gives you all the details. But the 400 page book could have been cut by about 100 pages and you would still have a very interesting book without all kinds of crap to wade through. Zacks writing style is fine, but the problem is that he actually gives us too many details. He spends way too much time telling us about Robert Cuilliford, a pirate with which Kidd has a couple of run ins during his life (Culliford actually ends up going free while Kidd is hung as a pirate). Almost as much information is given about Culliford as Kidd, and that really isn't what the book is supposed to be about. A few details about RC would have been adequate, and certainly Kidd's interactions with him.

Even though this book was hard to wade through at times, the history of Captain Kidd is very complete and gives us a glimpse into the true life of a pirate and of a privateer in the 17th century. Worth reading if you have any interest in this topic.