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  • Empire of Blue Water

  • Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign
  • Written by: Stephan Talty
  • Narrated by: John H. Mayer
  • Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

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Empire of Blue Water

Written by: Stephan Talty
Narrated by: John H. Mayer
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Publisher's Summary

He challenged the greatest empire on earth with a ragtag bunch of renegades - and brought it to its knees. Empire of Blue Water is the real story of the pirates of the Caribbean.

Henry Morgan, a 20-year-old Welshman, crossed the Atlantic in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Over the next three decades, his exploits in the Caribbean in the service of the English became legendary. His daring attacks on the mighty Spanish Empire on land and at sea determined the fates of kings and queens, and his victories helped shape the destiny of the New World. 

Morgan gathered disaffected European sailors and soldiers, hard-bitten adventurers, runaway slaves, and vicious cutthroats, and turned them into the most feared army in the Western Hemisphere. Sailing out from the English stronghold of Port Royal, Jamaica, “the wickedest city in the New World,” Morgan and his men terrorized Spanish merchant ships and devastated the cities where great riches in silver, gold, and gems lay waiting. His last raid, a daring assault on the fabled city of Panama, helped break Spain’s hold on the Americas forever. Awash with bloody battles, political intrigues, natural disaster, and a cast of characters more compelling, bizarre, and memorable than any found in a Hollywood including the notorious pirate L’Ollonais, the soul-tortured King Philip IV of Spain, and Thomas Modyford, the crafty English governor of Jamaica - Empire of Blue Water brilliantly re-creates the passions and the violence of the age of exploration and empire. 

©2007 Stephan Talty (P)2007 Books on Tape

What the critics say

"Before he became rum, Cap'n Morgan humbled the Spanish Empire....Talty's well-researched account weaves together myriad political and financial interests in the New World." (Booklist)

"Talty strips away the legend to recreate a pivotal era in this accessible portrait of the pirates of the Caribbean." (Publishers Weekly

“Talty’s vigorous history of seventeenth-century pirates of the Caribbean will sate even fickle Jack Sparrow fans....A pleasure to read from bow to stern.” (Entertainment Weekly)

What listeners say about Empire of Blue Water

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History at its best

Engaging and entertaining. Reads almost like a novel. I liked the use of "Roderick", the archetypal buccaneer. The 'narrator' was excellent as well. I could listen to this again tomorrow.

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Excellent

Exciting and interesting tour of an unreal time. kept my interest the whole time. Great.

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