The Enemy of All Mankind, by Steven Johnson

Johnson's Enemy of All Mankind is an account of a pirate raid wrapped in both a biography and the larger history of empire and trade building. The biography traces the life of Henry Every, one of the most notorious pirates of the late 17th century, and recounts his attack on a Munghal ship, an incident that had deep repercussions for the East India Company and British-Indian relations. Johnson is incredibly good at telling an engaging story while also keeping an eye on the larger picture of how this bit of history influenced international power shifts and led to the formation of modern businesses and corporations