Book summary

A traveler recreates the 18th century journeys of Captain James Cook through locales such as Tahiti, New Zealand, Alaska, and Hawaii. He conveys a sense of sailor-life with extracts from the journals of Cook and those of Joseph Banks, a well-to-do botanist who, along with his retinue, accompanied Cook through the Pacific. The author and a buddy traveled on a replica of Cook's ship The Endeavour, and Horwitz reports on their own findings on how life has changed, as well as on their own (sometimes alcohol-induced) hijinks. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.

Media reviews

"[Horwitz] reaches his stride, however, when he recounts his experiences in many of the places where Cook stopped: Tahiti, Bora-Bora....A terrific reporter, Horwitz investigates how the places he visits have changed and catalogs the effects that Western civilization, as personified by Cook, has had on the indigenous peoples....Horwitz is intrepid in tracking down the modern manifestations of this legacy. But what he also does, and what makes this book so absorbing, is intersperse among all the details of life today in these far-flung places an elegant running account of Cook's exploits."