Product Description

Captain James Cook's three epic journeys between 1768 and 1779 were the last great voyages of discovery. Sailing some 170,000 miles, Cook's ships reached every continent and every ocean, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Kamchatka to Java to Easter Island to the coast of Oregon. Before Cook set off, one third of the world's map remained, simply, blank. By the time he was done, there was little left to discover. Cook and his men were also among the first Europeans to encounter Pacific natives: hip-throbbing Tahitian dancers, New Zealand cannibals, Hawaiian surfers, Australian Aborigines sealed off from the rest of the world for thousands of years. With great wit and insight, Tony Horwitz vividly recounts these adventures, and revisits the lands and peoples Cook discovered to explore the captain's legacy in today's Pacific. In the course of his explorations, Horwitz also has exotic and often comic adventures of his own - on land and at sea - including a stint as a working sailor aboard a replica of Cook's tall ship, the Endeavour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #277187 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rarely have the heroic endeavours of Captain James Cook been accorded a biographical odyssey that can match the ambition of Tony Horwitz's Into the Blue; this is an epic treatment of an epic subject. More than the picture of a remarkable and enigmatic personality, this is a panoply of an age of exploration and adventure.

The three dangerous voyages that he undertook between 1768 and 1779 were unquestionably daunting for Cook and his covoyagers, but they also signified the final glorious flowering of the voyages of discovery across the surface of the planet. Cook had the distinction of discovering more of the far-flung corners of the earth than any of his predecessors. From Tahiti to Siberia, from the mysteries of Easter Island to the exotic dangers of the Great Barrier Reef, Cook and his crew brought back to the "civilised" world news of some of the most shocking aspects of the human condition and as Horwitz reports, "people listened agog to his descriptions of the horrors of cannibalism and ritualistic sexual excess."

But who was Captain James Cook? To create a complex picture of a complex man, the author revisited the exotic corners of the world that Cook had discovered, and the author's own adventures are described with maximum vividness. A picture emerges of Cook as a driven man who abandoned the tedium of farm life and Georgian London to search out strange new worlds (the jacket blurb even--bizarrely--quotes Star Trek's famous split infinitive: "Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before"). Told with as much humour as turbulent excitement, Into the Blue is a passport to a mesmerising voyage into the life of an intriguing figure. --Barry Forshaw

Review
'Playful but never flippant, meticulously researched and occasionally moving, this is an unusual take on the legacy of an enigmatic captain ... it remains a fresh and likeable attempt to boldly go where few biographers have gone before' Daily Telegraph

Daily Telegraph
'Playful, meticulously researched and moving ... this is an unusual take on the legacy of an enigmatic captain'

Customer Reviews

Easy-going but comprehensive chronicle of Cook's journeys
During a round-the-world trip, I travelled to Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Bora Bora and Easter Island. I came across lots of places visited by Captain Cook or otherwise connected with him, as well as plenty of monuments with snippets of information about his journeys. I was interested to learn more, but at the same time wanted to avoid academic histories. This book was recommended by my guidebook, and it was perfect. Tony Horwitz combines a chronicle of Cook's journeys in the Pacific with his own experiences of modern-day travel in some of the same regions. It's light-hearted and entertaining, as well as being interesting and informative. It's travel literature, not a literary classic, but it's perfect if you're after an easy-going but comprehensive description of Cook's journeys. Definitely recommended.

Spectacular read!
Due to excessive work commitments and an insatiable appetite for beer, I am frequently either too busy or drunk to read. However, on the odd occasion, I do get the opportunity to pick up a book and read it from cover to cover. Being one of the few non-fiction books I have read in recent times, Tony Horowitz' "Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before" brings to life the epic voyages endured by James Cook and contrasts them closely with subsequent explorations of Cook-related sites visited by the author in the twenty-first century.
Very informative and meticulously researched, very light-hearted and most definitely a good read for alcoholics and workaholics alike.

"Ambition leads me as far as I think possible to go."
In three epic journeys, from 1768 to his death in Hawaii in 1779, Captain James Cook charted most of the south Pacific, the coast of Alaska, and parts of Antarctica, claiming much of it in the name of the king. Despite the fact that he covered 200,000 miles, "explored more of the earth's surface than anyone in history," and redrew the map of the world, Cook remains a relatively obscure historical figure and is the subject of legend, much of it fanciful, in the places he charted. In celebrating Cook's achievements, analyzing the man and his values, and evaluating his influence, Horwitz attempts to put Cook's discoveries into their rightful perspective.

Accompanied by Roger Williamson, an Aussie free spirit dedicated to wine, women, and fun, author Horwitz travels to those places "discovered" by Captain Cook, describing Cook's reception by indigenous cultures, and observing the cultures as they exist today--in virtually all cases, despoiled by contact with the "civilized" world. Tahiti, Bora Bora, New Zealand, Australia, Tonga, the Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii, before and after western contact, are presented in detail, using Capt. Cook's own journals, the journals of naturalist Joseph Banks (who accompanied him on his important first voyage), drawings by Cook's artists, and the research of Cook biographer John Beaglehole to establish the pre-contact cultures. Horwitz's personal observations, interviews with local inhabitants, and on-site research assess the lasting effects.

Cook becomes accessible as a personality because of his friendship with Banks, who often served as his sounding board, and, it appears, loosened him up a bit. Naturally expansive and enthusiastic, and uninhibited by responsibilities and the sense of morality which seemed to dominate Cook, Banks serves as a foil to Cook. While Cook conscientiously records the contours of islands, Banks is far more interested in getting to know the local residents. Horwitz's friend Williamson, on the trip primarily for fun, not scholarship, serves the same purpose in Horwitz's book, creating humorous diversions both for Horwitz and the reader and spicing up Horwitz's serious research.

Fascinating as a biography of the complex Capt. Cook, as a lively record of the age of exploration, as a modern adventure to "romantic" south Pacific islands, and as research on cultural anthropology, this is an exhilarating and fast-paced narrative, one which will reward careful reading and cause the reader to examine the dubious results of "civilization." Horwitz obviously enjoyed his research, and the reader will, too, however vicariously. Mary Whipple