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Of Captain Mission by Daniel Defoe, Fiction, Classics
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Of Captain Mission by Daniel Defoe, Fiction, Classics Hardcover - 2003

by Daniel Defoe

Summary

Of Captain Mission is the first chapter of Volume 2 of A General History of the Robberies and Murder of the Most Notorious Pyrates, first published in 1724. The book was an immediate bestseller, and an expanded edition with Volume 2 was published in 1726. Written when many of the pirates described were still roaming the sea, the stories included vivid descriptions of the famous rogues, Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Bartholomew Roberts, along with female pirates, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. In fact, it was this book that established the reputations of many of these pirates. Originally published by "Capt. Charles Johnson," an American Defoe scholar attributed this work to Daniel Defoe in 1932. As a result, Defoe was widely accepted as the author of this book. This is still accepted by many today, although modern scholars have presented evidence that Defoe may not have been the author--the issue of authorship remains a subject for debate.

From the publisher

"Defoe has been recognized as the author of A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE ROBBERIES AND MURDERS OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS PYRATES since 1932, when John Robert Moore suggested that the supposed author, Captain Charles Johnson, like Andrew Moreton, Kara Selym, or Captain Roberts, was merely another mask for the creator of ROBINSON CRUSOE. Although most of the first volume is of minor literary importance, the second section -- which appeared in 1728 as THE HISTORY OF THE PYRATES -- commenced with a life "Of Captain Misson and His Crew," one of Defoe's most remarkable and neglected works of fiction. Among Defoe's gallery of pirates are Captain White, who refused to rob from women and children; Captain Bellamy, the proletarian revolutionist; and captain North, whose sense of justice and honesty was a rebuke to the corruption of government under Walpole. But the fictional Captain Misson, the founder of a communist utopia, is by far the most original of these creations." -- Maximillian E. Novak, University of Michigan

Details

  • Title Of Captain Mission by Daniel Defoe, Fiction, Classics
  • Author Daniel Defoe
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Pages 108
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Wildside Press
  • Date August 1, 2003
  • ISBN 9781592245673 / 1592245676
  • Weight 0.82 lbs (0.37 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.84 x 6.2 x 0.57 in (24.99 x 15.75 x 1.45 cm)
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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