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This History Channel series takes a fascinating look at the rise and decline of one of the most powerful fleets the world has ever known The Royal Navy.

"A compelling addition to the history of capitalism . . . reminds us that globalization's current realities have deep roots in the early modern era." —Margaret Newell, author of Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery

In this book Gillian Bennett traces the cultural history of six well-known legends that have been current in Europe and America from medieval times to the present day and have appeared in broadsides, ballads, myths, ancient and modern legends, novels, plays, films, television shows, and in stories told in the oral tradition. The book shows that contemporary legends are not just silly tales which can be dismissed as trivial and "untrue." Good stories though they are and embellished with fantastic details, they reveal much about the concerns and fears of everyday life and demonstrate the limits of knowledge and power in the modern world.