For eighteen months, one man terrorized America, bringing commerce and a superpower to its knees, raging onto the scene and disappearing as mysteriously as he appeared, yet no one knew who he was except for the moniker ... Blackbeard. Until now. Thatcher: The Unauthorized Biography of Blackbeard the Pirate is a trilogy that weaves the acknowledged facts of Blackbeard's life into the historic machinations that led to today's world. These novels shatter any foregone conclusion for those who think they know the story of Blackbeard. The incidences surrounding his death, the colonial hostilities it created and the iron fist employed by King George to control them began a sixty-year process that eventually led to the American Revolution, giving credence to the cliche that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Chronicle One begins in the frozen climes of Russia, where Thatcher Edwards is conceived in an illicit affair that could have dramatic repercussions for the Romanov dynasty. Born in his mother's native Bristol in southern England, Thatcher is schooled in the ways of commerce, ranging from the trading of goods to the peddling of flesh. His predilection for violence forces his flight to America, where boxing, pirate-hunting, nautical commerce and privateering fill up his formative years, as Thatcher tries to find his way in life and his place in Queen Anne's expanding empire."