Steven Johnson argues with verve and conviction in his thoroughly engrossing Enemy of All Mankind.

... [a] page-turner of a book.

... despite his subtitle — A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History’s First Global Manhunt — [Johnson's] detailed account of Every’s exploits and the attempts to bring him to justice is not a straightforward narrative of crime and punishment on the high seas. Johnson instead uses Every’s remarkable story as the organizing principle for a kaleidoscopic rumination on the ways in which a single event, and the actions of a handful of men with no obvious access to the levers of state power, can change the course of history.

Johnson is one of those polymath writers who links events and subjects most of us wouldn’t see as related, always to enlightening effect.

Johnson salvages his subject from the dustbin of history and puts his brief swashbuckling career in the context of the era’s historical currents. It is the perfect book to cozy up to during a pandemic.

The polymath American journalist and popular historian is an old hand not only at retelling fascinating stories but also at wringing every last drop of significance from them.

Johnson’s book is on one level a biographical retelling of Every’s crimes, recreating his most spectacular voyage in fine detail. However, it is far more ambitious than a conventional biography, with a narrative that’s as sprawling as the voyage itself.

Johnson tells the story with swashbuckling aplomb.

Johnson weaves a tapestry of treasure, tribunals, emperors, atrocities, and a pirate’s life at sea.

Johnson establishes Avery’s historical significance in this full account of his depredations.

... entertaining and erudite.

Wide-ranging as always.