The Most Evil Pirates in History - Tapa dura

"The Most Evil Pirates in History" takes a scintillating look at fifteen of the most evil swashbucklers of all time, including John Avery - perhaps Britain's most infamous pirate of the late seventeenth century, and the model for Daniel Defoe's wicked hero in "Life, Adventures, and Pyracies of the Famous Captain Singleton" (1720). Also featured is Edward Teach or 'Blackbeard', whose death - he sustained multiple sword and gunshot wounds in a fearsome hand-to-hand combat - was as sensationalist and violent as his life. Read about Edward Low, ship-rigger turned pirate, who is alleged to have forced prisoners to eat pieces of their own flesh before killing them. Among those included are William Kidd, Cheng I Soa, Captain Hiram Breakes, Anne Bonny, John Rackam (aka 'Calico Jack') and Grace O'Malley.

Among Shelley Klein's many books are The Most Evil Dictators in History and The Most Evil Secret Societies in History.