The Monarchs of the Main – Adventures of the Buccaneers in 3 volumes is a history of pirates and piracy written by British historian George W. Thornbury. His main goal in writing this book is to present the real facts of the people often wrongly depicted in maritime adventure fiction. His characters are men greedy of gold, ambitious, reckless, and cruel fighters. The settings to these scenes are the forested coasts of Caribbean Islands, where many of these outlaws found their piece of New World.

George W. Thornbury (1828-1876) was an English author. He was the first biographer of J. M. W. Turner. A journalist by profession, he also wrote verse, novels, art criticism and popular historical and topographical sketches. He began his career in 1845 with contributions to Bristol Journal and wrote later mainly for the Athenaeum. His major works include Lays and legends of the New World and Monarchs of the Main, a history of the Buccaneers.