Any reader of A General History of the Pyrates, the primary historical artefact of the Golden Age of Piracy, needs to be aware of the debate surrounding authorship. It originally bore the name of Captain Charles Johnson, about whom nothing else is known, and whose Dictionary of National Biography entry is based solely on his supposed authorship of the History. In 1932, John Robert Moore suggested that Johnson was yet another pseudonym for Daniel Defoe, the early novelist, maritime enthusiast, and sometime commentator on piracy through his various political organs. Moore’s ascription was then challenged in 1988, when P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens used the General History to demonstrate Moore’s faulty methods in Defoe attribution. Opinion remains divided: some of the critics who have spent most time with Defoe’s pirates (see...
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Citation: Seager, Nicholas. "A General History of the Pyrates". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7132, accessed 09 June 2026.]
