Black Meridian Debuts Early 2026

ARC Review: Black Meridian: Piracy & Empire

Sean Patrick Sayers’ Black Meridian is a masterwork of narrative history. It is a sweeping and bloody chronicle that charts the rise of European empires in the New World and the shadow economy of piracy that thrived alongside them. From the first Spanish landfalls in the Caribbean to the fortified harbors of Havana and Cartagena, Sayers weaves together the fates of conquistadors, kings, privateers, and outlaws into a seamless, utterly gripping whole.

This is history told with the urgency of a thriller. The conquests of the Aztec and Inca empires unfold in brutal, unflinching detail. Cortés’ calculated destruction of Tenochtitlán, Pizarro’s chilling ambush at Cajamarca, and the greed that drove both men beyond their victories. But, Black Meridian refuses to stop at the shoreline. It follows the rivers of plundered gold and silver out into the Atlantic, where they became the lifeblood of Spain’s empire  and the irresistible prey of its rivals. Jean Fleury’s brazen theft of Montezuma’s ransom, Jacques de Sores’ sack of Havana, the French and English privateers who blurred the line between patriot and pirate. Each episode feels alive, immediate, and anchored in meticulous research.

What impressed me most is how Sayers captures the interconnectedness of it all: how imperial policy, religious zeal, and personal ambition converged on the decks of galleons and in the contested harbors of a changing world. The book is filled with portraits from “Jambe de Bois” and Francis Drake to nameless sailors, freed slaves, and indigenous allies whose choices shaped the tides of history. The battles are vivid, the politics sharp, and the human cost never forgotten.

Black Meridian stands with the very best in maritime history. As immersive as David Cordingly, as propulsive as Hampton Sides, and as thematically rich as Fernand Braudel. It will leave you smelling the gunpowder, feeling the heave of the deck underfoot, and questioning where the line between hero and villain truly lies. 

In Black Meridian: Piracy & Empire, Sean Patrick Sayers reexamines the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy” and places it firmly within the machinery of empire. Far from a narrow Caribbean tale, this is a panoramic account that spans the Spanish Main, the Barbary Coast, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea, tracing the arc from the first shipments of New World bullion into Europe to the eventual industrial-age suppression of seaborne raiding.

Sayers’ approach blends scholarly depth with narrative clarity. The fall of Tenochtitlán, the ransom of Atahualpa, the feats of Drake, Morgan, and Blackbeard are reframed within a geopolitical and economic context that strips away romantic myth. Here, pirates are not swashbuckling antiheroes; they are opportunistic actors whose rise and fall were often orchestrated by the same empires that denounced them.

The book’s distinctive strength lies in its refusal to treat piracy as an historical anomaly. Instead, Sayers demonstrates how maritime predation was woven into the fabric of early modern global history, driving colonial expansion, shaping naval strategy, and redirecting the flow of wealth and power. The prose is brisk and accessible, making complex global currents intelligible without sacrificing nuance.

The result is a work that will resonate with both specialists and general readers. Without indulging in moralizing or nostalgia, Sayers presents the past as a turbulent, interconnected world. One in which the black flag served not only as a symbol of rebellion, but as a calculated instrument of imperial policy.