Charles Johnson

Author · 11 books

Captain Charles Johnson, the author of the 1724 book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, has not been identified. It has often been assumed that the name Captain Charles Johnson was a pseudonym, but nothing definitive has been determined about who he may have been. For a period of nearly fifty years, the prevailing theory was that the author's true identity was Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe. But that theory has been challenged and invalidated based on a lack of supporting evidence. Nonetheless, his book, which is in the public domain, has been published in a large number of editions by various publishers and in translations around the world, often employing the name Daniel Defoe on the cover.