Angus Konstam

Angus Konstam

Angus Konstam is an acclaimed historian, one of the world's leading authorities on piracy, past and present and is the author of over sixty books.

He was born in Aberdeen in 1960, but was brought up in the beautiful but remote Orkney Islands, off the north of Scotland.At 18 he joined the Royal Navy on a university scholarship. This gave him an excellent grounding in service life and customs, in seamanship and navigation and in all those little things which a maritime history author needs to know about. It even gave him the chance to sail the waters of the Caribbean - an area he'd write about later. He then studied for a Master's Degree at the University of St. Andrews. In the process he explored the new field of maritime archaeology and wrote his thesis on early naval artillery.

Two decades later this formed the basis for Sovereigns of the Sea, his acclaimed history of Renaissance warships. It also led to a job. In 1985 he was a supervisor on an excavation in the River Thames near the Tower of London, paid for by the Royal Armouries. He ended up staying with the museum for another ten years, becoming a Senior Curator of Weapons. Angus began publishing articles about arms and armour, and this led to his first book.

In 1995 he moved to Key West, Florida to become the Chief Curator in the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. Mel Fisher was a treasure hunter who found the wreck of the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha off the Florida Keys. His' job was to help turn the place into a bona-fide maritime museum. One way he achieved this was to create travelling exhibits which toured the United States. These included a pirate exhibition, and it was during the research for this that his interest in the subject really took off. He discovered just how little real information was known about pirates, so he decided to find out for himself. So began a quest that turned Angus into one of the world's leading authorities on pirates and piracy!

Konstam returned to Britain in early 2001 and now lives in Edinburgh, where he writes full-time.

Age of Sail: Non-Fiction

AOS Naval Non-Fiction

Series: New Vanguard (series continues with Modern Era books below)
Tudor Warships (1): Henry VIII's Navy : The history of the Tudor Navy from its origins as a merchant fleet under Henry VII through to its emergence as a powerful force under Henry VIII
Tudor Warships (2) : Elizabeth I's Navy : The extraordinary transformation of the Tudor fleet during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Union Monitor 1861-65 : The design, development and operational history of the Union's Monitor fleet
Confederate Raider 1861-65 : What forced the Confederates to resort to commerce raiding
American Privateers of the Revolutionary War : Congress issued almost 800 letters of marque
Spanish Galleon 1530–1690 : Construction, ordnance, crewing and role of the galleon
Warships of the Anglo-Dutch Wars 1652-74 : This was a revolutionary era in several key areas - warship design, armament and in naval tactics
 
Series: Duel
Byzantine Warship vs Arab Warship: 630-1000 AD : Compares the Byzantine dromōn and the Arabic shalandī
 
Series: n/a
Horatio Nelson : This book reveals the real Nelson

AOS Other Non-Fiction

Series: Elite
Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560-1605 : For about 40 years they fought a private war with the Spanish
Buccaneers 1620-1690 : For over 50 years buccaneers launched attacks on Spanish towns, ports and shipping
Privateers and Pirates 1730-1830 : The golden age of "state-sponsored piracy"
The Barbary Pirates 15th-17th Centuries : Uncovers the heyday of the legendary 'Barbary corsairs'
 
Series: New Vanguard (series continues with Modern Era books below)
The Pirate Ship 1660-1730 : A detailed exploration of the wide variety of pirate vessels
 
Series: n/a
Piracy: The Complete History : From the pirates who plagued the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to the modern pirate, preying on super tankers.
The History of Pirates : From the seas of antiquity to the New World and beyond
Pirate: The Golden Age : The life of a pirate in the early 18th century
Pirates: Predators of the Seas : The truth behind our myths

Modern Era: Non-Fiction

Modern Era Naval Non-Fiction

Series: New Vanguard
British Heavy Cruisers 1939-45 : The Royal Navy's thirteen heavy cruisers saw service in every theatre of the war
Commonwealth Cruisers 1939-45 : Designed to protect territorial waters these warships found themselves involved in a global war
British Aircraft Carriers 1939-45 : The story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played
British Aircraft Carriers 1945–2010 : The ships that led the fleet through the Cold War and Falklands War,
British Escort Carriers 1941–45 : The Royal Navy converted merchant ships into small 'escort carriers'
Gunboats of World War I : A detailed technical guide to the gunboats of all the major navies
British Frigates and Escort Destroyers 1939–45 : The small, mass-produced warships that defended the Atlantic convoys
British Gunboats of Victoria's Empire : Warships that for 50 years demonstrated the power of the Royal Navy worldwide
Nile River Gunboats 1882-1918 : A detailed analysis of the Nile river gunboats' entire career
Warships in the Spanish Civil War : How the Spanish Navy fought a civil war at sea
 
Series: Campaign
 
Series: Raid
 
Series: Duel
British Battleship vs German Battleship: 1941–43 : Compares and contrasts the design and development of these opposing capital ships
 
Series: n/a
The British Sailor of the Second World War : How the Royal Navy transformed ordinary citizens into first-rate sailors

Modern Era Other Non-Fiction

Series: New Vanguard
Confederate Blockade Runner 1861–65 : The lifeblood of the Confederacy began life as regular fast steam-powered merchant ships.

The author’s official web site is anguskonstam.com

© 2008-2024 David Hayes (Astrodene)