Talk:A General History of the Pyrates
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This article needs rewriting
editI think this article needs to be either rewritten, or at least heavily edited. The main problem with it is that while it is stated at the beginning that the identity of the author hasn't been established for certain, the whole article from the Themes section onwards has been written under the assumption that the author is Daniel Defoe. The constant references to Defoe, at the very least, need to be removed if there is no general consensus that he is indeed the author.
I also think that in its current state, the article is too long and unnecessarily detailed; from the Themes section onwards, it is little more than a summary of the contents of the book, and since there are very few references to sources other than A General History of Pyrates itself, some of the more interpretative statements (the Fact and Fiction section in particular) sound dangerously like original research. I would suggest trimming down the article with less paraphrasing of the source text and by sticking to established and leaving out speculation. 62.78.230.2 (talk) 13:32, 1 June 2014 (UTC)
- I've restored the article to the version befor May this year when a large amount of original research was added. Thanks for spotting that issue! Although the current text is imperfect, what was added was compley synthesis and primary research - and under WP rules can be removed. Thanks again! --Errant (chat!) 10:42, 3 June 2014 (UTC)
"Factual Accuracy" section
editI'd like to see a section added pointing out that quite a bit of what is written in the book is likely fiction. Various statements contradict trusted primary sources from the period including newspaper articles and court documents. It's also next to impossible that he would have had a way to know specific dialogue between pirates like Blackbeard's speech before his last battle or the exchange between Anne Bonny and Jack Rackham. For example, Rackham was hanged and Anne Bonny disappeared so who conveyed what was said? Furthermore, they were imprisoned so, if it was said, that would mean the guards allowed a man and woman to meet and talk. There is no way that would have been allowed. Concerning Blackbeard, he was killed during the battle and the surviving crew was arrested, tried, and executed. There is no mention of any of them testifying to what he said nor is there any documentation from Maynard that describes that.
These are just two examples but there are many more and it's important to discuss this. This is a common source document but it should be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion and ideally cross referenced against other documents if possible. ThePiratesPort (talk) 12:59, 4 June 2023 (UTC)