Talk Like a Pirate Day: my interview in USA Today

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and, in anticipation, a writer for USA Today contacted me a week or two ago to suggest "10 great places to swashbuckle down," the results of which are in today's paper.

I visited many of these locations while writing The Republic of Pirates: The True Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Sadly, there's not a lot left of the late 17th and early 18th century in the New World: hurricanes, fires, development, wars, and tropical decay wiped many locations off the map. Some of the places where one can best soak in the feel of the pirate era -- and walk in their footsteps -- are in Sarah Sekula's USA Today piece, and in more historical detail at my Republic of Pirates site, including Williamsburg and Cape Cod. There are also some additional ones, like Philadelphia and Boston. One of these days I'll get around to adding other locations.

If you're curious about the relationship between Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films and the lives and lifestyles of the actual pirates, you may enjoy this piece I wrote for the Christian Science Monitor when the most recent film came out. I also blog on the golden age pirates from time to time.