This book gives a thrilling account of a virtually unexplored chapter in the golden age of piracy. Here is the true story of the men who built the Republic of Pirates -- and the man who brought it down. In the early eighteenth century, a number of the great pirate captains joined forces, including Blackbeard, Black Sam Bellamy, and Charles Vane. This infamous "Flying Gang" was more than simply a band of thieves. Many of its members were sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves who turned to piracy as a revolt against the conditions they suffered on ships and plantations. Together they established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, blacks could be equal citizens, and leaers were chosen or deposed by a vote. - Jacket.