Enemy of All Mankind
A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt
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Narrated by:
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Jason Culp
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By:
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Steven Johnson
About this listen
“Thoroughly engrossing...a spirited, suspenseful, economically told tale whose significance is manifest and whose pace never flags.” (The Wall Street Journal)
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Ghost Map and Extra Life, the story of a pirate who changed the world.
Henry Every was the 17th century’s most notorious pirate. The press published wildly popular - and wildly inaccurate - reports of his nefarious adventures. The British government offered enormous bounties for his capture, alive or (preferably) dead. But Steven Johnson argues that Every’s most lasting legacy was his inadvertent triggering of a major shift in the global economy. Enemy of All Mankind focuses on one key event - the attack on an Indian treasure ship by Every and his crew - and its surprising repercussions across time and space. It’s the gripping tale of one of the most lucrative crimes in history, the first international manhunt, and the trial of the 17th century.
Johnson uses the extraordinary story of Henry Every and his crimes to explore the emergence of the East India Company, the British Empire, and the modern global marketplace: a densely interconnected planet ruled by nations and corporations. How did this unlikely pirate and his notorious crime end up playing a key role in the birth of multinational capitalism? In the same mode as Johnson’s classic nonfiction historical thriller The Ghost Map, Enemy of All Mankind deftly traces the path from a single struck match to a global conflagration.
©2020 Steven Johnson (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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We all know the great American origin story: It begins with an exodus. Fleeing religious persecution, the hardworking, pious Pilgrims thrived in the wilds of New England, where they built their fabled "shining city on a hill". Legend goes that the colony in Jamestown was a false start, offering a cautionary tale of lazy louts who hunted gold till they starved and shiftless settlers who had to be rescued by English food and the hard discipline of martial law.
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“Breath-y” narration bit great book
- By NBerg on 02-15-20
By: Joseph Kelly
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Great State
- China and the World
- By: Timothy Brook
- Narrated by: Timothy Brook
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
The world-renowned scholar and author of Vermeer’s Hat does for China what Mary Beard did for Rome in SPQR: Timothy Brook analyzes the last eight centuries of China’s relationship with the world in this magnificent history that brings together accounts from civil servants, horse traders, spiritual leaders, explorers, pirates, emperors, migrant workers, invaders, visionaries, and traitors - creating a multifaceted portrait of this highly misunderstood nation.
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No Cohesiveness
- By Mark on 05-21-20
By: Timothy Brook
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The Boundless Sea
- A Human History of the Oceans
- By: David Abulafia
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 41 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, David Abulafia's new book guides listeners along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans - the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian - which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and, of course, people across vast expanses, transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
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Like Reading a Dictionary.
- By aaron on 01-10-21
By: David Abulafia
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The Pirate Queen
- By: Susan Ronald
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II, Elizabeth I was feared and admired by her enemies. Extravagant, whimsical, and hot-tempered, Elizabeth was the epitome of power. Her visionary accomplishments were made possible by her daring merchants, gifted rapscallion adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her stalwart Privy Council, including Sir William Cecil, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Sir Nicholas Bacon.
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Too lilttle about Elizabeth!
- By Eunice on 12-20-07
By: Susan Ronald
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When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
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Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Pirate Women
- The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas
- By: Laura Sook Duncombe
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first-ever history of the world's female buccaneers, Pirate Women: the Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas tells the story of women, both real and legendary, who through the ages sailed alongside - and sometimes in command of - their male counterparts. These women came from all walks of life but had one thing in common: a desire for freedom.
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Don’t waste your time or credit
- By CJ on 08-06-18
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The Empire of Necessity
- Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World
- By: Greg Grandin
- Narrated by: Luis Moreno
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
One morning in 1805, off a remote island in the South Pacific, Captain Amasa Delano, a New England seal hunter, climbed aboard a distressed Spanish ship carrying scores of West Africans he thought were slaves. They weren' t. Having earlier seized control of the vessel and slaughtered most of the crew, they were staging an elaborate ruse, acting as if they were humble servants. When Delano, an idealistic, anti-slavery republican, finally realized the deception, he responded with explosive violence. Drawing on research on four continents, The Empire of Necessity explores the multiple forces that culminated in this extraordinary event.
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What is the "right thing to do"?
- By Lake on 03-08-14
By: Greg Grandin
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The Sea and Civilization
- A Maritime History of the World
- By: Lincoln Paine
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 29 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world's waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.
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Comprehensive
- By Than on 12-29-19
By: Lincoln Paine
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Love and Hate in Jamestown
- John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation
- By: David A. Price
- Narrated by: Josh Innerst
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company - which financed the settlement of Jamestown - David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and women whose charge was to find gold and a route to the Orient, and who found, instead, hardship and wretched misery. Death, in fact, became the settlers' most faithful companion, and their infighting was ceaseless.
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Five Star History!
- By Damian on 08-13-23
By: David A. Price
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The Island at the Center of the World
- The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
- By: Russell Shorto
- Narrated by: Russell Shorto
- Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a landmark work of history, Russell Shorto presents astonishing information on the founding of our nation and reveals in riveting detail the crucial role of the Dutch in making America what it is today.
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Incomplete history, but fun. Performance is poor.
- By Matthew on 11-27-18
By: Russell Shorto
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Under the Black Flag
- The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates
- By: David Cordingly
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i.e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier.
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Lacks Nuance
- By Joel Langenfeld on 07-02-15
By: David Cordingly
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A Stranger Among Saints
- Stephen Hopkins, the Man Who Survived Jamestown and Saved Plymouth
- By: Jonathan Mack
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sometime between 1610 and 1611, William Shakespeare wrote The Tempest. The idea for the play came from the real-life shipwreck in 1609 of the Sea Venture, which was caught in a hurricane and grounded on the coast of Bermuda during a voyage to resupply England's troubled colony at Jamestown, in present-day Virginia. A lesser known passenger was Stephen Hopkins. During the 10 months the Sea Venture passengers were marooned on Bermuda, Hopkins was charged with trying to incite a mutiny and condemned to die, only to have his sentence commuted moments before it was to be carried out.
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This book makes history come alive
- By KQ on 02-23-21
By: Jonathan Mack
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The Republic of Pirates
- Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down
- By: Colin Woodard
- Narrated by: Lewis Grenville
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the early 18th century, the Pirate Republic was home to some of the great pirate captains, including Blackbeard, "Black Sam" Bellamy, and Charles Vane. Along with their fellow pirates - former sailors, indentured servants, and runaway slaves - this "Flying Gang" established a crude but distinctive democracy in the Bahamas, carving out their own zone of freedom in which servants were free, Blacks could be equal citizens, and leaders were chosen or deposed by a vote.
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Audible is better
- By CaptainRavick on 01-19-16
By: Colin Woodard
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Solid read, BUT...
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Good scientific history
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On Stranger Tides
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On Stranger Tides follows the exploits of John Chandagnac, who travels to the new world after the death of his puppeteer father to confront his uncle, who has apparently made off with the family fortune. During the voyage, he befriends Beth Hurwood and her father, Benjamin Hurwood, an Oxford professor. Before they arrive at their destination, their ship is waylaid by Blackbeard and his band of pirates.
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I have waited for this audiobook for years!
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The Ultimate Pirate Collection
- Blackbeard, Francis Drake, Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan, Grace O'Malley, Black Bart, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Henry Every and Howell Davis
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"The golden age of piracy" generally refers to the era when history's most famous pirates roamed the seas of the West Indies from 1670-1720.
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Not an original work
- By Sean on 07-23-15
What listeners say about Enemy of All Mankind
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- Placeholder
- 06-10-21
Great book bringing history to life
My husband loves to sail so this book helped to make sense all of the nautical terms and traditions. It was also very interesting to learn the history of pirates and their shocking ties to modern day capitalism. This could ever be a good book for a kids research paper.
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- R. Heath
- 06-05-24
Excellent history lesson
Enemy of all Mankind is a solid narrative and a great history lesson. Who knew?
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- Carla
- 11-13-24
Mildly interesting
This is the story of the pirate Henry Avery, one of the few successful pirate captains to escape trial or capture, his fate a mystery to this day. The book is mildly interesting, not a page turner, but easy to read and informative.
It discusses Avery's life history, substantial evidence limited, and based to some degree on hearsay and some romanticized tales spread through the press and communities of the time.
The author covers in detail how Avery's exploits were a menace to late 1600's India, particularly the Grand Mughal, its trading merchants and other royal ships making the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and by extension the East India Company which suffered through its British association with Avery and his men.
Following his capture of the ultra wealthy and treasure laden fortress ship, the Ganji Sawai, Avery escapes to the West Indies, and then presumably back to Europe to retire peacefully as a lifelong fugitive. Yet the men who accompanied him were not so lucky.
The author is good but seems to fall into the trap of conjecture and judging Avery from a modern moral perspective. One does not know that Avery burned that mosque because he was anti-Muslim or xenophobic as the author concludes. It's also foolish to assume Avery extracted information from captives through torture just because another English pirate did so a century later. Nor would I judge Avery for engaging in the slave trade. The trade in human currency was an evil that was commonplace and accepted of the time.
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- michael murray
- 08-05-22
Couldn’t stop listening
A well told pirate tale woven into such a fascinating historical time. Steven Johnson is a great story teller and his subject is thoroughly researched. Cant wait for his next book
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- Mark
- 08-26-24
Gripping!
A wonderfully told and performed book. I was actively looking for time to continue listening!
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- James Mcilnay
- 11-12-24
Well written but full of inaccuracies
The story about Henry Avery is accurate for the most part, if the author had just stuck to that I’d have a more positive review. The author paints a picture of pirates of the golden age that plays into the popular myths about pirates. Unfortunately, pirates were not 17th century social democrats and abolitionist; they were criminal outlaws and ruthless profiteers. They didn’t have 20th century values and beliefs in regards to democracy and slavery.
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- Adam R. Lambert
- 02-13-23
Engrossing tale
Steven Johnson provides an interesting take on the history of one of the most infamous pirate tales ever. Jason Culp brings an affable voice to relate Johnson’s words. Overall, this is a terrific nonfiction book to pass the time.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-05-23
Pretty solid
Intro is solid make you think you’re getting a deeep dive on the east India company but you get a history of why pirates are deemed outlaws. It tells the story of henery Avery and the first world wide man hunt. Wish there was more detail but Avery’s life was shrouded in mystery so it’s a hard story to tell. Thief did a good job solid read.
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- Robert
- 08-26-24
Great tale from history
This is an excellent historical event for study. There is plenty of drama and intrigue around the people and event itself. Then there are all the interconnected strands that are woven into the larger perspective of this time in history. How empires were made and the people trying to make fortunes in between huge fortunes being shipped around the world.
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- Dave
- 03-28-24
Great story
Although I know the life of a pirate was not what we like to think it was I sure do like a good pirate tale and sometimes believe I was born, as Jimmy says best, a few hundred years to late. Great book. Great narrator
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