Thu, Nov 13
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The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates – Minotaur Book Club
Pirates adopted democracy more than fifty years before the US, initiated an early system of workers' compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. The Invisible Hook reveals the economic forces propelling history's most colorful criminals.
Time & Location
Nov 13, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST
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About the event
ANNOUNCEMENT: The Minotaur Book Club
Our next "book" will be "The Invisible Hook" by Peter Leeson
Register on Meetup! https://www.meetup.com/marylandforwardparty/events/311586216/
From the Publisher:
"Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy--a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers' compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice--their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized.
The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices... revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history's most colorful criminals, The Invisible Hook establishes pirates' trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world. "