Navigating the Tides of History: An 18th-Century American River Pirate Case Study in Contemporary Theoretical Context

The Era of the American River Pirate succeeded the Golden Age of Piracy and occurred on and alongside inland waterways like the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Contemporary theories designed to help explain criminality were used to examine the existence of river piracy and the behavior of river pirates. The analysis was developed while compiling my forthcoming manuscript, Pursuing River Pirates: The Hunt for Sam Mason, pending publication with Bloomsbury (formerly Rowman & Littlefield). Mason served in the French and Indian War, was a Revolutionary War Captain, and chose river piracy as a retirement career in his 50s.