Smithsonian magazine February 2014 Blackbeard article

[Littleneckhalfshell]

Have not seen this mentioned, but I miss a lot....

The February 2014 issue of Smithsonian has a ten page article on Blackbeard and the cover is black with skull and crossbones and black beard spelled out in white letters.

Seemed like a good article with some new information

[Red John]

Aye, I thought it to be a good article meself. I didn't have a lot of time so I had to read it pretty quickly, but I hope to see it again soon.

The article seems to track more or less with the points made in author Kevin Duffy's book, "The Last Days of Blackbeard", although it did differ from Duffy's book in several regards, and to the article's detriment, I believe. I'll see if I can post more on the article once I get to read it again.

Duffy's book is excellent, and the best modern book on Blackbeard that I've seen, period. The book does away with many if not almost all of the romantic myths, but gives an even-better real history, more intriguing than the fairly simple, commonly-accepted story originated by Johnson. Duffy has excellent original research and tell you his sources every step of the way, along with making well-founded educated guesses where those have to be. He always tells you his sources and makes it clear when he is connecting dots (educated guesses) that are not directly supported by verified sources. He doesn't have to make very many educated guesses, since his original research is so thorough. Duffy has found new period sources as well as done a great deal of "on the ground" research in the exact locations where Blackbeard was, everywhere from back swamps of eastern NC to tidewater Virginia to Bristol, England, to Ocracoke Island. I can't say enough good about his work. Come see him in person at the next Ocracoke Pirate Jamboree on Ocracoke Island, NC, 31 October to 2 November 2014; his presentations are dynamic and engaging, but reflect serious scholarship.

Yours, Aye-

John

[GregF]

There was an interesting exchange about this article on another thread a few weeks back....

https://pyracy.com/index.php/topic/19288-gaop-essential-reading-list/?p=415999