The Life of Captain James Cook

Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992. Later printing. Trade Paperback. Fine. 772 p. "This is a tome which occassionally tells you just a little more than you really want to know about the three great voyages to the Pacific, but anyone seriously interested in the western penetration into the Pacific will want to read this book. It is also an articulate and formidable defense of Cook's character, seamanship, and wisdom. While Cook is not quite so venerable now in a time of great sensitivity to the depradations western invasion inflicted on indiginous people, this book presents us with an undoubtedly great man interested not in conquest but in geography, exploration, discovery, science, anthropology and peaceful relations between cultures. The aftermath was a tragedy, (see Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact) but Cook was simply too high-minded and short-sighted to forsee what would come after. Cook was for better and worse a man of his time--and it was an age of enlightenment--an exemplar of the period of science, exploration and adventure. He was of course a cold fish and hard to cosy to, but there is much to admire in this brilliant portrait of the man and his age." -- Frank O'Connor. Book is fine with mild edge wear. Small indentation on upper edge of the front cover. Some very light marks on page block. Book doesn't appear to have been read.