Publisher Description

In an exhilarating tale of historic adventure, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Confederates in the Attic retraces the voyages of Captain James Cook, the Yorkshire farm boy who drew the map of the modern world Captain James Cook's three epic journeys in the 18th century were the last great voyages of discovery. His ships sailed 150,000 miles, from the Artic to the Antarctic, from Tasmania to Oregon, from Easter Island to Siberia. When Cook set off for the Pacific in 1768, a third of the globe remained blank. By the time he died in Hawaii in 1779, the map of the world was substantially complete. Tony Horwitz vividly recounts Cook's voyages and the exotic scenes the captain encountered: tropical orgies, taboo rituals, cannibal feasts, human sacrifice. He also relives Cook's adventures by following in the captain's wake to places such as Tahiti, Savage Island, and the Great Barrier Reef to discover Cook's embattled legacy in the present day. Signing on as a working crewman aboard a replica of Cook's vessel, Horwitz experiences the thrill and terror of sailing a tall ship. He also explores Cook the man: an impoverished farmboy who broke through the barriers of his class and time to become the greatest navigator in British history. By turns harrowing and hilarious, insightful and entertaining, BLUE LATITUDES brings to life a man whose voyages helped create the 'global village' we know today.

Back Cover

Two Centuries After James Cook's Epic Voyages of Discovery, Tony Horwitz takes readers on a wild ride across hemispheres and centuries to recapture the captain's adventures and explore his embattled legacy in today's Pacific. Horwitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, works as a sailor aboard a replica of Cook's ship, meets island kings and beauty queens, and carouses the South Seas with a hilarious and disgraceful travel companion, an Aussie named Roger. He also creates a brilliant portrait of Cook: an impoverished farmboy who became the greatest navigator in British history and forever changed the lands he touched. Poignant, probing, antic, and exhilarating, Blue Latitudes brings to life a man who helped create the global village we inhabit today.

Author Biography

Tony Horwitz is the bestselling author of Confederates in the Attic, Baghdad Without a Map, and One for the Road. He is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He lives in Virginia with his wife, Geraldine Brooks, and their son, Nathaniel.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Distance Traveled 1. Pacific Northwest: One Week Before the Mast 2. Tahiti: Sic Transit Venus 3. To Bora-Bora: Sold a Pup 4. New Zealand: Warriors, Still 5. Botany Bay: In the Pure State of Nature 6. The Great Barrier Reef: Wrecked 7. Homeward Bound: The Hospital Ship 8. Savage Island: The Hunt for Red Bananas 9. Tonga: Where Time Begins, and Goes Back 10. North Yorkshire: A Plain, Zealous Man 11. London: Shipping Out, Again 12. Alaska: Outside Men 13. Hawaii: The Last Island 14. Kealakekua Bay: A Bad Day on Black Rock Epilogue: A Period to His Labours Notes on Sources Selected Bibliography Acknowledgements Index

Review

"Thoroughly enjoyable. No writer has better captured the heroic enigma that was Captain James Cook than Tony Horwitz in this amiable and enthralling excursion around the Pacific." --Bill Bryson, author of In a Sunburned Country "Tony Horwitz's Blue Latitudes is one of the best. . . full of humor. . . an elegant running account of Cook's exploits." --The New York Times Book Review (cover review) "Part history, part travelogue -- and mostly just great fun. . . This is history on a global scale, and Horwitz tells it surpassingly well." --Los Angeles Times "A tour de force of evocative history, serious scholarship, and compelling writing." --The Washington Post "Part Cook biography, part travelogue, and very much a stroke of genius." --The Philadelphia Inquirer "Hilarious, brainy, and balanced. . . .A trip with Horwitz is as good as it gets." --The Charlotte Observer "Tony Horwitz has done it again. . . Keen insight, open-mindedness and laugh-out-loud humor." --San Francisco Chronicle "A staggering blend of historical research, character study, sociological analysis, and intriguing tales of travel." --The Boston Globe "Curiosity, intelligence, compassion and a sense of adventure. . . I love reading Tony Horwitz." --Chicago Tribune "Horwitz succeeds brilliantly in turning the English from stiff icons to flesh-and-blood human beings. The book's constant humor, honesty and judgment recall his own Confederates in the Attic and Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods.. . . This book will keep you enthralled." --The Seattle Times

Review Quote

Tony Horwitz's Blue Latitudes is one of the best. . . full of humor. . . an elegant running account of Cook's exploits.

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