The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates Paperback – July 2, 2008

Truly interesting book which helped me under piracy in a much larger context. As a person with an early forebear kidnapped in the late 1600s and brought to America, I knew nothing about the Barbary Pirates role in Ireland's abductions. I liked the factual aspects of this book as well as the personal histories. Thanks, Mr. Ekin!

This book relates the true story of slave trading "from Ireland to Africa". What intrigued me most is that it turned my preconceptions of "Slave-Trading" on its head. I assumed trading in humans was mainly one-way traffic (from Africa to America and the New World). But Des Ekin has turned this understanding on its head. The story of a pirate raid in the 17th century - from the Barbary Coast of North Africa on Baltimore, Cork, Ireland and its aftermath - makes for very interesting reading and origins of the "Irish" Claddagh ring receives a new perspective. Highly recommended.

I actually read The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates a few years ago and was surprised that once delving into the "stolen" village I found that there were lots of surprises. It reminded me of the Salem Witch Trials of Salem, Massachusetts where like the Stolen Village, there will many different, understandable reasons for what was labeled as witchcraft. The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates is well worth reading - and for me - again.

the author has managed to wed factual history and human interest.I was thrust into the hearts of the poor people of Baltimore, I was able to feel their pain and anguish and was made to realize what I guess I already knew and that is that most of the worlds people are evil and have been for a long long time!II was left really thinking of the worlds humans throughout time, at the pain and anguish caused to them at the hand of other humans!

In 1621, a small flotilla of Barbary corsairs commanded by a Dutchman landed at an Irish fishing village, kidnapped almost the entire population and whisked them off to the slave-markets of Algiers and Istanbul. And if that doesn't grab your attention, nothing will. What on Earth were Algerian pirates doing in Ireland? Why were they led by a Dutchman? And is it possible that, while Europeans were beginning to plunder the West African coast for slaves, they were in fact very, very new to the business of trafficking in human lives? All the answers are in this book, and it makes fascinating reading. I'd have given it more stars but for the disappointing frequency of phrases like "They might have seen ..."; conjecture in the absence of hard fact makes for weak history. But that should not detract from Des Ekin's voluminous research, which was clearly hampered by the lack of actual records surrounding the specific events he deals with. He recognises this, and still he has has managed to write a well-researched tale. If it reads sometimes like an adventure novel ... well, that just makes it fun to read.

The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates A truly wonderful book that brings alive a part of Baltimore,Ireland's history. Like viewing a gem, each chapter turns the incident of a raid by Algerine Pirates on an Irish village and looks at it from a new prospective explaining the wider significance & placing it in context. Entertaining, educational, & a very readable style make it one of my favorite books. If your historical interest is in Ireland, England, the Moors, pirates, or 17th century geopoltiks; I recommend it.

Fascinating topic.

Very interesting and lots of historical details. Since there aren't first-hand accounts from the Baltimore victims he had to use use examples from others in similar experiences, but it helped create a picture of what probably happened to them and what they felt at the time.