'In this important book, Marcus Rediker imbeds rich empirical research within an impressive theoretical framework. The result is a fresh and powerful analysis of the eighteenth-century maritime world that will quickly establish the author as a leading scholar in Anglo-American labor history.' Gary Nash, University of California, Los Angeles 'Marcus Rediker's in-depth study of seamen in the early eighteenth century ... Read moretells us a great deal not only about the shipping industry but also about the rise of capitalist relations in general in England, for which the industry may have been a more important forcing house than has previously been realised. No one interested in the history of the eighteenth century can afford to ignore this book.' Christopher Hill Show Less