The war is over, thousands of armed sailors are suddenly unemployed, and the Atlantic is carrying more wealth than ever before. Between 1715 and 1721, the Caribbean became the center of the Golden Age of Piracy. Nassau emerged as a pirate haven, Benjamin Hornigold helped build a community beyond the easy reach of British authority, and Edward Teach transformed himself into the terrifying figure history remembers as Blackbeard.

Follow Blackbeard from the decks of Queen Anne’s Revenge to his blockade of Charleston and his final battle near Ocracoke Island. Then cross the Atlantic to London and Paris, where another kind of danger was growing. John Law’s Mississippi Company and Britain’s South Sea Company promised extraordinary riches, sending investors into speculative frenzies before two of history’s most famous financial bubbles collapsed. ...