The Republic of Pirates

"The Republic of Pirates", written by Colin Woodard, was a rather interesting read. It contained a lot of information about pirates that are often over looked or unknown by most people. One example of such information includes the fact that most pirate captains were not racist, and allowed natives of islands and slaves to join their ranks. The novel also revealed the horrid loss of life out at sea due to disease, fighting--there was much less fighting than one would think--and the powerful forces of nature.
Apart from being interesting, the book was rather confusing. Colin Woodard introduces many different pirates rather early in the book, causing your mind to loose track of who is who, who did what, and who was where. This gets extremely confusing when ships begin getting destroyed or traded, for who owns said ships escapes your memory. In the end, I recommend "The Republic of Pirates" for next year's class and to anybody that would be interested in the truth behind the pirates.

-Alexander the Great

Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World

Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World is an account of the United Fruit Company, one of the 20th Century's most notorious corporations.

The book, written by Peter Chapman, describes the history of this strong and influential fruit business, that brought the banana, a rare and exotic fruit, into the world. Chapman traces the origins of the fruit to it's heritage located in South America, as it travels to the United States and the rest of the world. This exotic travel eventually begins as a struggle for United Fruit, though with the assistance of the United States through bloodshed and war, United Fruit becomes a strong political power in various South-American countries, such as Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, and Cuba.

Money, greed, war, and capitalism eventually lead to the demise of United Fruit, however it is Chapman's descriptive account that intrigues the reader about the downfall of one of the world's most powerful corporations.

Overall, "Bananas" was a great summer read.

---Voltaire