Under the Black Flag I can see that it could be tough to read, but I enjoyed it, there was some good research and a possible stoned shuffling of note cards. I did find myself wishing for more illustrations, especially of the ships described. A lot of general history on the pirate prime time.
I also read a Sea Rovers Practice (Little) at the same time. An interesting read, but if you didn't like the editing in Cordingly's book you might not like Little's either. It reads like an outline at times, the opposite of Under the Black Flag. more general history with an emphasis on tactics, but the tactics used then were never really tied to todays sea roving tactics (SEAL) despite the claim made at the beginning of the book. maybe I just didn't get it. I would recommend it if you like pondering the nuts and bolts of things. more illustrations. (what can I say, I'm a visual kind of guy)
Capt. Johnson's A General History of Pyrates just showed up from amazon today, the day I found this web site. I will leave it to you salty dogs to argue whether or not Defoe actually wrote it. I tend to side with Cordingly, but I will wait to read it before committing.
Zach's new book , Pirate Coast, was a great read but more about the diplomacy at the time than pirates. As usual for Zach, the research seemed sound to me and the narrative is easy to read. If you are familiar with the second line of the Marine's Hymn, "to the shores of Tripoli", (Semper Fi, Leather necks) this is a must read. I would have wished for more on Lt. Obannon, but it was still great. Zach may do for pirates what Ambrose did for WWII and Lewis and Clark.