Sea commerce at this time had so far outstripped a naval power adequate to protect it that piracy grew more and more profitable, and many a respected sea merchant held private stock in some more than dubious sea venture.-from "Privateers and Pirates"First published in 1919, this now-classic history chronicles the settlement and early life of what would become the greatest city in the world, from the first European traders and settlers to the civic life of the colony in the 18th century. In vivid, dramatic prose, Goodwin describes: .Henry Hudson's arrival in New York harbor.the Dutch West India Company's early charter in the New World.the government of the burghers, and the first English governors.the brutal treatment of Negro slaves in the burgeoning city.the waves of immigration that saw surges in the city's population.and much more.MAUD WILDER GOODWIN (1856-1935) wrote extensively on American history, including The Colonial Cavalier, Or Southern Life Before the Revolution (1895), White Aprons: A Romance of Bacon's Rebellion, Virginia, 1676 (1897), Historic New York (1899), and Sir Christopher: A Romance of a Maryland Manor in 1644 (1901).