ABOUT HAMPTON SIDES:
\ n
HAMPTON SIDES \;is the author of \;The New York Times&nb
sp\;bestselling histories \;On Desperate Ground\, In the Kingdom of Ic
e\, Hellhound on his Trail\, Blood and Thunder\, and \;Ghost Soldiers\
, which won the PEN USA Award for Nonfiction. He lives in Santa Fe\, New M
exico.
ABOUT THE WIDE\, WIDE SEA:
\nNEW YOR K TIMES \;BESTSELLER &bull\; A &ldquo\;thrilling and superbly crafted& rdquo\; (The Wall Street Journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration\, which culminated in Captain James Cook&rsquo\;s d eath in Hawaii\, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day.
\nA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \;THE NEW YORK TIMES\,& nbsp\;TIME\, THE ECONOMIST\, NPR\, \;THE NEW YORKER\, THE SMITHSONIAN\ , AND \;KIRKUS REVIEWS
\n&ldquo\;In this masterly history\, Side s tracks the 18th-century English naval officer James Cook&rsquo\;s third and final voyage across the globe\, painting a vivid and propulsive portra it.&rdquo\;&mdash\;The New York Times Book Review
\nOn July 12th\, 1 776\, Captain James Cook\, already lionized as the greatest explorer in Br itish history\, set off on his third voyage in his ship the \;HMS Reso lution. Two-and-a-half years later\, on a beach on the island of Hawaii\, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook\, who wa s unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and culture s\, come to that fatal moment?
\nHampton Sides&rsquo\; bravura accou nt of Cook&rsquo\;s last journey both wrestles with Cook&rsquo\;s legacy a nd provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual dan ger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship\, his humane leadership\, and his dedication to scien ce. On previous expeditions\, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific\, inc luding the east coast of Australia\, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well and endeavored to learn ab out the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.
\ nYet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial \, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline\, and led his two vessels i nto danger time and again. Uncharacteristically\, he ordered violent retal iation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have ha d something to do with his secret orders\, which were to chart and claim l ands before Britain&rsquo\;s imperial rivals could\, and to discover the f abled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook&rsquo\;s intentions\, his scientifi c efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword\, and the ultimate eff ects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the w orld. The tensions between Cook&rsquo\;s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious\, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest an d Alaska\, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal en counter.
\nAt once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the hig h seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration\, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of ou r finest narrative nonfiction writers.
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