This was such a fun and fascinating read. This period in history is little understood but widely assumed to be well known, so this history is greatly appreciated.

This was a truly interesting topic, but as much as it is painful to admit--it did not grab my attention.

I have always been curious about pirates and thought of them as nothing but fictional characters. It is amazing to know that they are as real as the skies are; however, it is undeniable that my attention flies away from me whenever I grab this book for a read.

Pirates! Who does not like to read about pirates? Tales of swashbuckling adventures, cutlasses gleaming, and treasure to be plundered! In Enemy of All Mankind, Steven Johnson provides a look at Henry Every, one of the most successful pirates ever, who manages to loot a great treasure and escape into obscurity, never to be caught!

Enemy of All Mankind opens with the crime. Three small English ships under the command of Henry Every come upon a Mughal treasure ship in the Indian Ocean. Against all odds, the English succeed in taking and plundering the Mughal vessel. Little is known for sure about Henry Every, so Steven Johnson uses all the craft of a writer to bring him to life while providing context for his life, his crime, and the impact this crime had on the world. Johnson breaks the story into five parts - The Expedition, The Mutiny, The Heist, The Chase, and The Trial. "The Expedition" sets the scene with background on Henry Every, terrorism, piracy, the Mughals, the East India Company, and the Spanish Expedition Shipping enterprise which hired Henry Every. "The Mutiny" covers the mutiny Henry Every lead that provided him a ship The Fancy along with a look at the pirate haven of Madagascar and their future opponent the Ganj-i-Sawai. "The Heist" walks the reader through the details of the fight to take the Ganj-i-Sawai, the conflicting narratives of what happened after the English victory and the consequences of this act on the fortunes of the East India Company in India and Great Britain. "The Chase" details The Fancy's travels from the Indian Ocean around Cape Horn and into the Caribbean where the pirate crew split up with some staying, some going on to the colonies in America while Henry Every and several others travel back to England. "The Trial" looks at the fate of 8 crew members who where caught in England, put on trial, and then put on trial again because the jury had the nerve to side with the defendants in the first trial.

Steven Johnson provides a very readable account of the crimes committed by the pirate Henry Every, placing events in the context of British imperialism in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. If the reader wants to explore the early history of pirates, Enemy of All Mankind is a great place to start.

I loved reading this book, it taught me so much I didn't know about pirates and I truly enjoyed the writing style. It was a fascinating book to read and I would even add that it is a must read for those of you who love History

When I first saw the title and the skull and crossed bones, I thought the enemy was going to be cancer. Nope, it refers to an actual pirate. Not a Disney version, though: this was a really excellent big-picture view of the factors in society of the 17th century that allowed piracy to flourish, and also shows the far-reaching effects it had, taking as a case study Henry Every, a British seaman-turned-pirate who seized a Grand Mughal treasure ship laden what would amount to about $20 million in today's money and ultimately changed the world economy. The author recounts the facts in an engaging way, and walks you through educated guesses where there are gaps in the historical record.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

I don't really read history because I used to dislike the subject from school. I was feeling apart since the beginning of the book, but it gets better and better and even I WHO I DON"T LIKE HISTORY, I admittedly fell in love with this book!

Steven Johnson did a remarkable job in writing this book. Creating such a captivating narrative of a person with so little hard evidence. The way he structured the story and filled in the missing gaps made it a highly fascinating read. I did not expect to get captivated this much by a rather factual book based on real events.

What surprised me the most was of how few of the mentioned events I’ve heard before. In most movies, the East India Trading Company acts as if they are completely untouchable and most of us simply agree on that. But how did they ever come into that position? And which role did Henry Every have to play in it?

Johnson paints a detailed picture of how life must have been back then and what it really meant to be a pirate. What motivated the men and how they lived their lives on board of a ship. Be warned though, he is not afraid to mention some of the abhorrent crimes the pirates must have committed during that time.

Pirates are a source of romantic and heroic tales and whose adventure have been deified for generations. Despite the deplorable truth to many of their lives and actions, audiences hardly ever tire of the pirate whisking a maiden off on an adventure or a glorious coming-of-age story for a young man who has no where else to go. This book tells of the lives of Henry Every, his pirate crew, and the historical impact their travels and raids had on the global community over three hundred years ago. In this story, the author tells the truth to the best of his ability and has the research to back up every point. For the reader whose interests lie in adventures, history, genealogy, or even international relations, this is a book to pick for a next read.

"Enemy of All Mankind" is the fascinating and intricate story of Henry Every- a man who encourages a mutiny and steals the fastest ship on the seas to turn to piracy, where he becomes an infamous pirate. Steven Johnson creates a fascinating picture of what the world was like in the late 1600s and how seemingly unconnected pieces came together to cause the first global manhunt. From the development and strengthening of the East India Company to the surprisingly democratic world of pirates, from the seemingly endless treasures of the Indian elite to the poor and tiny Bahamas, from London to Madagascar, "Enemy of all Mankind" covers the globe to uncover the true story of Henry Every- a man well known and romanticized by his contemporaries in London but little known to history today.

A fascinating, well-researched, and well-written book and a must read for history lovers.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I will not deny that this book took me out of my comfort zone, normally I do not read this kind of reading but I will say that it was very good, all the historical and historical connection about the violent attack of this English pirate, it was very interesting, it reminded me of my history classes and I could remember about a teacher that his classes kept them. very interesting, so much that the hours were passing very fast, there were some parts i Tereza tes and funny that that I did not expect. But you start to think that here we only know the part of the story, but what about the rest? It also explains why it is important and how it influences today.
Thank you so much for this e-ARC

Really enjoyed this book’s central narrative about Henry Every, the late seventeenth century Red Sea pirate of whom little is known. It is amazing that this story has not been more widely discussed. Johnson not only gives us a thorough overview of Every - based on a wealth of scholarship - he connects the dots between Every’s piracy and a variety of other developments that shaped the modern world, including the rise of the East India Company and the British Empire. Though I am not convinced by the author’s depiction of pirate ships as prototypes of democracy and egalitarianism, he rightly notes the other, darker side of their character, namely the widespread occurrence of rape, cultural destruction, and horrendous violence committed by these often romanticized sociopaths. The first global manhunt for Every - declared an enemy of the human race - puts him in the same category as recent villains such as Osama Bin Laden. If not entirely convincing on every point, the author’s nonetheless makes a fun story highly interesting and constructs a narrative whose context extends from London, Africa, the Caribbean, and Mughal India - a pinpoint history that also succeeds as a global history. Students of piracy and the early modern British Empire would certainly benefit from this book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

An enlightening look at a pivotal point in history when world trade, popular media, and piracy all came together to launch a new world order. Johnson is an engaging writer who connects the dots between a piracy event at the end of the 17th century and the development of England's position in the world.

Steven Johnson creates a full blown examination of piracy, world events, politics, religion, sexism, colonialism, sensationalistic press and global economics by basing his story around a singular privateer and his brazen (and incredibly lucky ) attack against a royal Indian treasure ship.

Though Johnson has obviously done his research, the story does not suffer from a flood of dry facts. He skillfully sets the scene then lets the actors play out the results. This is not a typical tale of piracy and treasure seekers. Rather it is the story of how seemingly small events lead unexpectedly to global and long lasting consequences at a time of exploration and exploitation.

Divided into five sections (The Expedition, The Mutiny, The Heist, The Chase and The Trial) this book is a bit of a slog through the first section. Johnson’s broad history of Mughals’ conquest of India (663 CE to 1775) is interesting but can be hard to follow. However his descriptions of late 17th century British and Muslim cultures enhance his 20th century readers’ appreciation of key events. Most of the action takes place in and around the Arabian Sea, so a good map or two are essential for this geographically challenged reader. The narrative picks up a bit with the “Heist”, “Chase”, and “Trial” sections of the book. A great read for those interested in how capitalism and one large British corporation in particular, the British East India Company, shaped early geopolitics.

I expected a fun read and a huge does of historical thoughtfulness and thread-connecting and that's exactly what Johnson delivered. He used a shockingly violent English Pirate attack on a Mughal Indian treasure ship to weave together threads around the spread of Islam; the creation and self-sustaining logic of stock corporations; the ascendancy of European Imperialism; the breakdown of class systems and the beginnings of the ideals of individual liberty; the creation of celebrity journalism; and the continuing abuse of legal power by governments to promote their larger interests. Like all good history, Johnson not only told us what happened an what the evidence does or does not say, but he also tells us why it matters, what forces came together to create those conditions, and and how it influences us today.