The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade (Profiles in History)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.83 (963 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674031946 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-01-21 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Captain Cook & the Questions that Surround his Legacy I first became aware of the controversy surrounding the death of Captain Cook in reading Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before a few years ago. In it, Tony Horwitz descrbes how, on his third voyage, Cook displayed behavior that was not characteristic of his first two expeditions. He gave instances of an increase of tension with his crew, some questionable decisions and uncharacteristic intera. Dry and dull Eddy Like the reviewer above I can say this is no page turner. What it is instead is a presentation of facts in chronological order detailing the controversy/mystery around Cook's death.Unlike the reviewer above however, I see no need to give it four stars for its well researched presentation of facts, because it is a terribly dry and dull book to read. To me, this book doesn't even make it to average. It is an absolute bo
Glyn Williams is Emeritus Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London.
Sailing thousands of miles across what was then the largely uncharted ocean that covered almost one-third of the earth’s surface, he mapped the land from New Zealand in the south to Hawaii in the north on a scale and with the kind of detail no previous voyager had done. Williams writes that “my interpretation of Cook breaks new ground as I argue that the circumstances and reporting of his death are the key to his reputation.” The book is an intriguing study of a fascinating subject. --George Cohen . In three voyages he transformed Europe’s incomplete knowledge of the Pacific. In early 1780, news reached England that Cook had been killed on a beach in Hawaii the previous February. From Booklist Williams posits that Captain Cook’s enduring claim to fame is that he redrew the map of the world
Since first reported to the world in 1780, the death of Captain Cook on a Hawaiian beach the previous year has been revered, celebrated, and shrouded in mystery. Simultaneously called a hero and an antihero, a ruthless invader, and a torchbearer of the Enlightenment, Cook’s reputation grew as much out of the moving story of his death as out of his adventures while he lived. In short, Williams examines the story of Cook’s progress from obscurity to fame and, eventually, to infamy—a story that, until now, has never been fully told.. In a style that is more detective story than conventional biography, Glyn Williams explores the multiple narratives of Cook’s death. More than two hundred years later, an explosive interplay between academic controversy and nationalist feelings has once more drawn attention to a life that has attracted praise and controversy, abhorrence and admiration. He believes that Cook was not entirely the man sanctified by the British public. Williams argues that the contrary evidence of a chaotic bloody fracas on the beach at Kealakekua Bay was ignored, and that the unexplained disappearance o