Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution

InPatriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton, grandson of the battlefield genius of World War II, writes about American privateering during the Revolutionary War, and how this massive seaborne insurgency ravaged the British economy, helping America win independence. Patton engagingly guides readers through this little-known chapter of America military and maritime history, telling a sweeping tale of rebelentrepreneurs bent on personal profit as well as national freedom. His extensive research reveals how the practice engaged all levels of Revolutionary life, from the assembly halls to the dockyards. With brisk and lively prose, he shows how it gave rise to wild speculation in ventures by the agents who sold the pirated goods, enabling sailors to make more money in a month than they might otherwise earn in a year.