The death of Captain Cook : a hero made and unmade /
Glyn Williams.
- 197 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm.
- Profiles in history .
- Profiles in history (London, England). .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 176-189) and index.
A Distant Death -- An Enlightenment Hero -- Cook in the Colonial Age -- Cook in a Postcolonial World. 1. 2. 3. 4.
"Captain Cook's enduring claim to fame is that in three extraordinary voyages to the Pacific he redrew the map of the world. The news that reached London in 1780 of his death on a beach in Hawai'i the previous year was shocking, and the details of that bloody and chaotic fracas had to be turned into something nobler as befitted a martyr-hero." "This new interpretation of Cook's life and death argues that the circumstances and reporting of his death are the key to his reputation. For many years this seaman of humble origins enjoyed unparalleled status as 'the pride of his century', and in the white settlement colonies in the Pacific he became 'father of the nation'. By contrast, first in Hawai'i and then in the postcolonial world, a different view emerged of a destructive invader, more anti-hero than hero. Captain Cook's progress from obscurity to fame and then, for some, to infamy, is a story that has never been fully told."--BOOK JACKET.
1861978421 9781861978424
Cook, James, 1728-1779 Cook, James, 1728-1779 --Death and burial.
Explorers--Great Britain--Biography Voyages around the world--History--18th century.