My Amazon Review of Steven Johnson's "An Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Power and History's First Global Manhunt"

Piracy on the High Seas

Steven Johnson tells a true story of how a 1695 mutiny on the British ship Charles II, renamed Fancy, led to an historic act of piracy off the coast of India a few months later. Henry Every capably leads his band of pirates to capture the Indian treasure ship Gang-i-Sawai loaded with a thousand pilgrims on their way back from Mecca. Once on board the pirates raped, pillaged and plundered their way to about $20 million in bounty. One of the victims was the granddaughter of Grand Moghul Aurangzeb.

Because the pirate ship was waving the British flag it leads to the jailing of British East India company officials. It is with that Johnson tells of the intrigues within the East India Company both in Britain and India designed to maintain the company’s tenuous position in India. To avenge the piracy Britain authorized a global manhunt to bring Every and his band to justice. They are called “hostis human generis” or enemies of all mankind.

Every escapes first to the Bahamas and it is there the crew splits up. Some going to America and others going to Britain and Ireland. Some get captured, others not. Along the way we learn about pirate life and the egalitarian nature of governance aboard ship and the equitable sharing of the bounties earned. It was a hardship filled risky life, but if successful the rewards were great.

Meantime as a result of British efforts, the East India Company entrenches its position in India and lays the basis for the empire that was to come. The book is far more interesting on the pirate side then on the politics of the British position in India. One thing I would have liked to learn is how Every learned and used his navigational skills, first to intercept his prize and later to make the journey to the West Indies, no easy task in 1695.

Johnson tells a good story and there is much to learn about the globalizing world of the late 17^th Century.

For the full Amazon URL see: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1D9QYTSQVXCEK/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rvReview of