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The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . 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 was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?
Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.
Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’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 and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.
At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high 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 our finest narrative nonfiction writers.
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . 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 was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?
Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.
Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’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 and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.
At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high 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 our finest narrative nonfiction writers.
408 pages, Hardcover
First published April 9, 2024
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June 14, 2024
“It should have been obvious to [Captain James] Cook and [Molesworth] Phillips that they should retreat to the pinnace immediately. Their lives depended on it. But Cook wouldn’t budge. Perhaps he didn’t want to lose face, didn’t want to appear undignified or cowardly. Perhaps, from all his years spent among the Polynesians, he thought he understood their tides of emotion, their body language, their mentality. Or perhaps, for the first time in his life, he genuinely didn’t have a clue what to do. He had drifted into another world that left him insensible to the dangers pressing in on him. But a warrior broke forward and pulled Cook from his reverie. The man charged at him and raised his pahoa into the air…”
- Hampton Sides, The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
Like many other historical figures, Captain James Cook has had a complex afterlife. In his day – and for years thereafter – he was honored as a great explorer and “discoverer” of lands unknown to the wider world. As time progressed – and as historians finally began accounting for differing perspectives – Cook’s legacy changed. For example, it has been rightly noted that many of the places Cook “discovered” were inhabited islands that had already been found by the people who lived there. Today, Cook has become a symbol of imperialism, a man who – wittingly or not – sailed at the vanguard of colonialism, and all the exploitation that entailed.
In The Wide Wide Sea, Hampton Sides attempts to place Captain Cook into a more nuanced context, somewhere in between flawless adventurer on the one hand, and deliverer of all evils on the other. He also – it should be added – delivers one hell of a tale.
***
The Wide Wide Sea is not a biography of James Cook. Rather, it focuses on his final voyage, which began in Plymouth, England, in July 1776, and ended – poorly – on Hawaii’s Kona Coast in January 1779. During the interim, Captain Cook visited places as different as Cape Town in Africa, Tahiti in the South Pacific, the western coast of what became the United States, and the Bering Strait. The extremes are pretty remarkable, as Cook’s two ships – the Discovery and Resolution – ping-ponged between tropical paradises and the massive ice flows that blocked the much-sought Northwest Passage.
***
As with all of Sides’s books, The Wide Wide Sea benefits from remarkably deep research that is delivered to the reader in readable, often evocative prose. Sides puts you on the quarterdeck with Cook, and on the sun-drenched isles of the vast Pacific, and in the frigid winds off Alaska. His descriptions of the various locales are worthy of a travelogue. Thanks to the incessant demands of my children to be fed and clothed and entertained by Apple products, I have not traveled in a long, long time. So, this aspect was nice.
Beyond the sights, Sides is a wonderful storyteller, with a keen ability to weave fascinating details into the proceedings without slowing its pace. He knows how to deliver a set piece, especially when it comes to Captain Cook’s furious final acts.
That said, this is not a pure narrative. To the contrary, Sides often cuts away for side-discussions about various topics. For example, he spends a couple pages describing the K1 sea clock, which allowed seafarers to determine their longitude with accuracy. At another point, he touches on the ancient Polynesian navigators who managed to reach Hawaii around the year 300, centuries before the invention of global positioning systems or even – for that matter – the K1 clock.
On occasion, Sides also pauses his forward momentum to weigh bits of evidence, and even to referee a fight between two warring anthropologists engaging in one of the vicious nothing-fights that fuels academia. Somehow, he does all this seamlessly.
***
In an “Author’s Note,” Sides promises at the outset to provide a fuller picture of Cook’s expedition, one that moves beyond the observations, declarations, and issue-framing of the white European sailors. This is a promise that Sides fulfills as best he can, given the obvious limitation in documentary evidence.
Whenever Cook drops anchor, Sides is quick to describe the place he landed, and the men and women who were already there. This includes the Palawa of Tasmania, the Māori of New Zealand, and the Tahitians of Tahiti. When necessary, he adjusts or corrects the European version of events by relying on anthropological evidence and oral histories.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing Sides does is to intercut Captain Cook’s arc with that of Mai, a man from the volcanic island of Raiatea. Mai traveled to England, garnered fame, fortune, and mistresses, and then attempted to return home, with unfortunate results. Mai’s journey is every bit as memorable, powerful, and tragic as that of Cook’s, and is a resonant illustration of the possibilities and pitfalls that accompany the meeting of distinct cultures.
***
Unsurprisingly, Captain Cook is the central character of The Wide Wide Sea. Though this is not a traditional biography, Sides does his usual skillful work divining his character. The Cook on these pages has lost a bit of his edge, and perhaps more than a bit of his mental faculties. For whatever reason – and Sides goes through several of them – Captain Cook made a string of dubious decisions, for which he eventually paid a high price.
As noted up top, Sides also attempts to define Captain Cook’s proper place in the historical firmament. Even if Cook was not the first to find the places he is credited with finding, he put them into a global context, which is its own accomplishment. However, as Sides notes, “[i]n Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries.”
Sides can be scathing – and rightfully so – about the actions of Cook and his men. Yet he does this without engaging in self-righteous moralizing, which can get very tedious. Sides suggests that it goes too far to blame all the ills of empire on a single man, especially one whose business was mapmaking, not conquering. Still, he understands that this is a contested view, especially if you are descended from people harmed by Cook’s arrival, and its long, ugly aftermath.
In short, this isn’t a polemic for or against James Cook, though those certainly exist. It is a book that treats complicated matters – such as cross-cultural sexual relationships – as complicated matters.
***
Ultimately, there is no final word on Captain James Cook, and Sides does not bother to try. Perhaps all that can be said of him – without it being contested – is that he was a good sailor. In that, he shared much with the Polynesians before him, who shoved off into the infinities of the seas with little more than a gut feeling that land existed somewhere over the horizon, beyond all that heaving, depthless water.
- Hampton Sides, The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
Like many other historical figures, Captain James Cook has had a complex afterlife. In his day – and for years thereafter – he was honored as a great explorer and “discoverer” of lands unknown to the wider world. As time progressed – and as historians finally began accounting for differing perspectives – Cook’s legacy changed. For example, it has been rightly noted that many of the places Cook “discovered” were inhabited islands that had already been found by the people who lived there. Today, Cook has become a symbol of imperialism, a man who – wittingly or not – sailed at the vanguard of colonialism, and all the exploitation that entailed.
In The Wide Wide Sea, Hampton Sides attempts to place Captain Cook into a more nuanced context, somewhere in between flawless adventurer on the one hand, and deliverer of all evils on the other. He also – it should be added – delivers one hell of a tale.
***
The Wide Wide Sea is not a biography of James Cook. Rather, it focuses on his final voyage, which began in Plymouth, England, in July 1776, and ended – poorly – on Hawaii’s Kona Coast in January 1779. During the interim, Captain Cook visited places as different as Cape Town in Africa, Tahiti in the South Pacific, the western coast of what became the United States, and the Bering Strait. The extremes are pretty remarkable, as Cook’s two ships – the Discovery and Resolution – ping-ponged between tropical paradises and the massive ice flows that blocked the much-sought Northwest Passage.
***
As with all of Sides’s books, The Wide Wide Sea benefits from remarkably deep research that is delivered to the reader in readable, often evocative prose. Sides puts you on the quarterdeck with Cook, and on the sun-drenched isles of the vast Pacific, and in the frigid winds off Alaska. His descriptions of the various locales are worthy of a travelogue. Thanks to the incessant demands of my children to be fed and clothed and entertained by Apple products, I have not traveled in a long, long time. So, this aspect was nice.
Beyond the sights, Sides is a wonderful storyteller, with a keen ability to weave fascinating details into the proceedings without slowing its pace. He knows how to deliver a set piece, especially when it comes to Captain Cook’s furious final acts.
That said, this is not a pure narrative. To the contrary, Sides often cuts away for side-discussions about various topics. For example, he spends a couple pages describing the K1 sea clock, which allowed seafarers to determine their longitude with accuracy. At another point, he touches on the ancient Polynesian navigators who managed to reach Hawaii around the year 300, centuries before the invention of global positioning systems or even – for that matter – the K1 clock.
On occasion, Sides also pauses his forward momentum to weigh bits of evidence, and even to referee a fight between two warring anthropologists engaging in one of the vicious nothing-fights that fuels academia. Somehow, he does all this seamlessly.
***
In an “Author’s Note,” Sides promises at the outset to provide a fuller picture of Cook’s expedition, one that moves beyond the observations, declarations, and issue-framing of the white European sailors. This is a promise that Sides fulfills as best he can, given the obvious limitation in documentary evidence.
Whenever Cook drops anchor, Sides is quick to describe the place he landed, and the men and women who were already there. This includes the Palawa of Tasmania, the Māori of New Zealand, and the Tahitians of Tahiti. When necessary, he adjusts or corrects the European version of events by relying on anthropological evidence and oral histories.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing Sides does is to intercut Captain Cook’s arc with that of Mai, a man from the volcanic island of Raiatea. Mai traveled to England, garnered fame, fortune, and mistresses, and then attempted to return home, with unfortunate results. Mai’s journey is every bit as memorable, powerful, and tragic as that of Cook’s, and is a resonant illustration of the possibilities and pitfalls that accompany the meeting of distinct cultures.
***
Unsurprisingly, Captain Cook is the central character of The Wide Wide Sea. Though this is not a traditional biography, Sides does his usual skillful work divining his character. The Cook on these pages has lost a bit of his edge, and perhaps more than a bit of his mental faculties. For whatever reason – and Sides goes through several of them – Captain Cook made a string of dubious decisions, for which he eventually paid a high price.
As noted up top, Sides also attempts to define Captain Cook’s proper place in the historical firmament. Even if Cook was not the first to find the places he is credited with finding, he put them into a global context, which is its own accomplishment. However, as Sides notes, “[i]n Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries.”
Sides can be scathing – and rightfully so – about the actions of Cook and his men. Yet he does this without engaging in self-righteous moralizing, which can get very tedious. Sides suggests that it goes too far to blame all the ills of empire on a single man, especially one whose business was mapmaking, not conquering. Still, he understands that this is a contested view, especially if you are descended from people harmed by Cook’s arrival, and its long, ugly aftermath.
In short, this isn’t a polemic for or against James Cook, though those certainly exist. It is a book that treats complicated matters – such as cross-cultural sexual relationships – as complicated matters.
***
Ultimately, there is no final word on Captain James Cook, and Sides does not bother to try. Perhaps all that can be said of him – without it being contested – is that he was a good sailor. In that, he shared much with the Polynesians before him, who shoved off into the infinities of the seas with little more than a gut feeling that land existed somewhere over the horizon, beyond all that heaving, depthless water.
March 30, 2024
My thanks to Doubleday books, Hampton Sides and Netgalley.
I love this author when it involves the sea. I don't want to read anything about landlocked anything. For me? It's Mr. Sides and the sea!
And boy howdy, does he know how to make a reader wish for a front row seat! Hampton puts a reader right smack dab in the middle! I love his writing and research.
So. Captain Cook. I can't hate in the man. He did what most any one of us would have at that time. He just freaking explored. Give me a ship and some funds? Hell yes, I'd have been exploring.
Yes, I know it was so much more than that to others, but let's be real.
I'm not going to get into the past or current politics of this. Rest assured, that I think it's all idiotic. That was the past.
Australia was the main country that I'd always wanted to visit, then I heard that it was a 20 hour flight. W.T.F? No. Nope. Hell to the cuss word, and more cuss words and yes, a few more! Whew! I feel better now! So, maybe a ship? Actually, I would love to be in a few weeks voyage to see Australia. Could you imagine? I'd love to swim, and scuba off the western coast. Yes, I know..sharks and crocs. It's a choice I suppose. I'll choose that. That's funny! I'll take the sharks and crocs over a 20 hour flight? Hmm. 😒 Sounds about right!
It's Hampton Sides for fish sakes. Read it!
All the stars!😜
I love this author when it involves the sea. I don't want to read anything about landlocked anything. For me? It's Mr. Sides and the sea!
And boy howdy, does he know how to make a reader wish for a front row seat! Hampton puts a reader right smack dab in the middle! I love his writing and research.
So. Captain Cook. I can't hate in the man. He did what most any one of us would have at that time. He just freaking explored. Give me a ship and some funds? Hell yes, I'd have been exploring.
Yes, I know it was so much more than that to others, but let's be real.
I'm not going to get into the past or current politics of this. Rest assured, that I think it's all idiotic. That was the past.
Australia was the main country that I'd always wanted to visit, then I heard that it was a 20 hour flight. W.T.F? No. Nope. Hell to the cuss word, and more cuss words and yes, a few more! Whew! I feel better now! So, maybe a ship? Actually, I would love to be in a few weeks voyage to see Australia. Could you imagine? I'd love to swim, and scuba off the western coast. Yes, I know..sharks and crocs. It's a choice I suppose. I'll choose that. That's funny! I'll take the sharks and crocs over a 20 hour flight? Hmm. 😒 Sounds about right!
It's Hampton Sides for fish sakes. Read it!
All the stars!😜
April 20, 2024
As I look back to the two other books I've read from Sides, I notice they were both 5 star reads from me. He has this penchant for knowing the narrative style his readers want and crave. He's one of the best out there, so it's interesting to see what topic he's writing about.
His recent foray into exploration writing brings him to the third and final voyage of Captain James Cook. Sides tells you at the beginning that he's not being biased by any means. He is taking written accounts from the western world and combining them with the written histories from local Hawaiian historians and oral histories from the Natives in an attempt to tell the story in the most effective and truthful way possible.
As I remember with In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, Sides treats his true characters like a novel -- not only does the main characters have his or her say, but some of the others are outspoken and described very thoroughly. Sides knows how to tell a story and leaves no stone unturned.
Sides's conclusion brings in hypotheses from historians over the years, but I am left satisfied what he determines as I agree with why Cook was murdered, but will leave the reader of this review to determine it themselves.
Recommended for his on-going fans and new ones alike.
His recent foray into exploration writing brings him to the third and final voyage of Captain James Cook. Sides tells you at the beginning that he's not being biased by any means. He is taking written accounts from the western world and combining them with the written histories from local Hawaiian historians and oral histories from the Natives in an attempt to tell the story in the most effective and truthful way possible.
As I remember with In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, Sides treats his true characters like a novel -- not only does the main characters have his or her say, but some of the others are outspoken and described very thoroughly. Sides knows how to tell a story and leaves no stone unturned.
Sides's conclusion brings in hypotheses from historians over the years, but I am left satisfied what he determines as I agree with why Cook was murdered, but will leave the reader of this review to determine it themselves.
Recommended for his on-going fans and new ones alike.
July 8, 2024
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook is the latest book by Hampton Sides with a powerful historical narrative as one is transported to one the most thrilling eras of exploration in the eighteenth century. The book is a deeply researched history relying, not only on the words of Captain Cook’s own men, but on the oral traditions of the indigenous people from his encounters with the people of the Pacific and Northwest America.
After two previous expeditions and reputed to be one of the greatest explorers in British history, Captain James Cook set off on his third voyage on July 12, 1776 on his ship the HMS Resolution with his crew sailing for on an around the world adventure in uncharted waters with only what they had on board to survive. Because King George III was preoccupied with the Revolutionary War in the colonies, the HMS Resolution was sent on its expedition with many glaring deficits, including that the ship itself leaked like a sieve forcing the crew to make many repairs underway. Captain James Cook, being first an explorer and mapmaker, was interested in locating the famed Northwest Passage. This is a tale of fearless exploration which greatly expanded our understanding of the world’s geography. The mystery that remains is how did Captain James Cook come to be killed by the indigenous people in Hawaii. And it is towards that end we accompany the HMS Resolution on its exploration.
After two previous expeditions and reputed to be one of the greatest explorers in British history, Captain James Cook set off on his third voyage on July 12, 1776 on his ship the HMS Resolution with his crew sailing for on an around the world adventure in uncharted waters with only what they had on board to survive. Because King George III was preoccupied with the Revolutionary War in the colonies, the HMS Resolution was sent on its expedition with many glaring deficits, including that the ship itself leaked like a sieve forcing the crew to make many repairs underway. Captain James Cook, being first an explorer and mapmaker, was interested in locating the famed Northwest Passage. This is a tale of fearless exploration which greatly expanded our understanding of the world’s geography. The mystery that remains is how did Captain James Cook come to be killed by the indigenous people in Hawaii. And it is towards that end we accompany the HMS Resolution on its exploration.
“Cook had entered a vast space where no European explorer, not even Bering, had been. What’s more, Cook had become history’s uncontested master of the Pacific: He had ventured farther to its south than any know navigator before him and now he had crossed that ocean’s northernmost limits into unknown waters. He was the first captain—and the Resolution the first vessel—to cross both the Antarctic and the Arctic Circles. Something marvelous appeared to be happening for him. The stars were aligning, the landforms relenting, the waters inviting him onward. All the signs were auspicious. For Cook and his men, the puzzle seemed to be coming together just as the Admiralty had hoped that it would. ‘It was as if they had threaded together the whole world,’ wrote British maritime historian Richard Hough, and it seemed ‘that the secret of the earth’s geography had been revealed to them in this one magic moment of suspension between the continents.’”
February 29, 2024
The chances of me not loving The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides were admittedly nil. I rank Sides as one of the best best non-fiction writers today. You also add in the fact he is writing about my favorite explorer of all time in Captain James Cook. Sides looks specifically at Cook's final journey around the world which, if you know nothing about it, is epic. Last year, in 2023, a lot of people who don't usually read non-fiction took a chance on David Grann's The Wager and loved it. Well, it is not an insult to either book to say that The Wide Wide Sea is this year's The Wager. It's only February but this book will be in my Top 5 of the year when it is all said and done without question.
Sides has a gift for taking big stories and making them feel small and intimate. I also already knew he can write an exceptional book about ocean voyages (if you haven't read In the Kingdom of Ice yet, you should rectify that as soon as possible). He added another wrinkle with this book. Before it begins, Sides states that he is going to look at this story with recognition of how some of these actions look to us today. Before you write this book off, this doesn't mean Sides took today's politics and painted everyone as an evil imperialist. Instead, what he provides is context. Sure, a lot of things you will read about would be abhorrent to most people today, but Sides places them in their time and calls out double standards when he sees them.
What I didn't expect was that Sides willingness to look back at Captain Cook with a contemporary lens makes him even more interesting. Cook was (for his time, let's not overstate this) a more compassionate explorer than most. If you put Hernán Cortés on the inhumane side of the scale, Cook is on the other end. That is, until this final voyage. Cook's third voyage shows cracks in his armor and it leads to ruin. I knew how it ended and I was still riveted because Sides is just that good. Make sure you read this book.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Doubleday Books.)
Sides has a gift for taking big stories and making them feel small and intimate. I also already knew he can write an exceptional book about ocean voyages (if you haven't read In the Kingdom of Ice yet, you should rectify that as soon as possible). He added another wrinkle with this book. Before it begins, Sides states that he is going to look at this story with recognition of how some of these actions look to us today. Before you write this book off, this doesn't mean Sides took today's politics and painted everyone as an evil imperialist. Instead, what he provides is context. Sure, a lot of things you will read about would be abhorrent to most people today, but Sides places them in their time and calls out double standards when he sees them.
What I didn't expect was that Sides willingness to look back at Captain Cook with a contemporary lens makes him even more interesting. Cook was (for his time, let's not overstate this) a more compassionate explorer than most. If you put Hernán Cortés on the inhumane side of the scale, Cook is on the other end. That is, until this final voyage. Cook's third voyage shows cracks in his armor and it leads to ruin. I knew how it ended and I was still riveted because Sides is just that good. Make sure you read this book.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Doubleday Books.)
May 5, 2024
There is a growing tendency today to classify works such as this as "popular history". These are works that aim to capture a wider reading audience, rather than works of true scholarly or historical analysis. This classification is accurate for many historical books being published today. Hampton Sides does not quite fit neatly into that category. His books are structured and written in a way to capture a wider audience, yes, but Sides also takes great pains to critique individuals and historical events from a multitude of angles.
In the case of James Cook, Sides considers the natives' perspectives and rationale behind their actions. This is a difficult task given that the Polynesian and Hawaiian historical records have been passed down orally over the generations. Sides is clearly appreciative of Cooks' accomplishments, but this is an objective work.
Sides is also one of the best historians working today in terms of constructing a narrative and telling an incredible story. This is the "pop history" aspect of his work. But it does not cheapen the scholarly quality of this new book either. It's a wonderful work and perhaps Sides' best book to date. If you are new to Sides, this is a great one to start with. Another personal favorite is 'Blood and Thunder'. Easy five stars.
In the case of James Cook, Sides considers the natives' perspectives and rationale behind their actions. This is a difficult task given that the Polynesian and Hawaiian historical records have been passed down orally over the generations. Sides is clearly appreciative of Cooks' accomplishments, but this is an objective work.
Sides is also one of the best historians working today in terms of constructing a narrative and telling an incredible story. This is the "pop history" aspect of his work. But it does not cheapen the scholarly quality of this new book either. It's a wonderful work and perhaps Sides' best book to date. If you are new to Sides, this is a great one to start with. Another personal favorite is 'Blood and Thunder'. Easy five stars.
June 17, 2024
This is my first Sides book and will not be my last. I'm a life-long land lubber and intend to stay that way. However, I'm drawn to books about sailing, the sea, explorations, and island life.
After reading Grann's The Wager, Sides' book seemed a natural step in my reading plans and it was a good decision. I knew nothing about Captain James Cook and not much of the facts of his explorations. In the age of survey and British imperialism, Cook on his last journey encountered the Hawaiian islands and its native peoples while on a search for the Northwest Passage. Along the way he is responsible for reuniting a native Tahitian named Mai with his homeland. Those are but a couple of riveting details of the events that occur in Sides' narrative.
I found the most interesting points about Cook to be about his cartography and navigation skills.
After reading Grann's The Wager, Sides' book seemed a natural step in my reading plans and it was a good decision. I knew nothing about Captain James Cook and not much of the facts of his explorations. In the age of survey and British imperialism, Cook on his last journey encountered the Hawaiian islands and its native peoples while on a search for the Northwest Passage. Along the way he is responsible for reuniting a native Tahitian named Mai with his homeland. Those are but a couple of riveting details of the events that occur in Sides' narrative.
I found the most interesting points about Cook to be about his cartography and navigation skills.
May 8, 2024
I've known Hampton Sides to be a splendid author of narrative nonfiction, and this is no exception. On the face of it, this book recounts the "discovery" of the Hawaiian Islands by Captain James Cook during his third voyage to the Pacific. In reality, it is about Cook; about how his behaviors on this trip differed from those that distinguished his efforts on his earlier explorations.
Sides had choices as to how to approach this material. Much ink has been spilled, as they say, by scholars debating the possible explanations. It would have been easy, and perhaps typical, for Sides to tell the tale and then conclude with an analysis of the various interpretations of Cook's behaviors.
That's not what he's done. He's quietly dropped suggestions as the story unfolds and left it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. I seem to have a fondness for tales, whether fiction or nonfiction, that require that I stretch my imagination and understanding, and I would say this falls into that category.
Cook was a brilliant navigator, an even more gifted cartographer, and something of an instinctive anthropologist. He seemed to have a sixth sense for locating remote islands and for identifying safe havens for his ships to moor, and he was known for his efforts to leave the native cultures he encountered undisturbed.
He was also appreciated as a fair captain who prioritized the needs of his crew and used the lash sparingly. Although he didn't understand the biochemistry of scurvy, he intuitively stocked his ships with foods that countered the outbreak of the disease that was responsible for a 50% death rate on ships with other captains. Cook's men survived.
His achievements in exploration and mapmaking were so highly valued that after his second voyage he was offered a cushy retirement at Greenwich. But when he learned of plans for a voyage with the objective of searching for a Northwest Passage starting from the Pacific Ocean rather than the Atlantic, he insisted on being put at the helm.
He was also charged with the responsibility of returning Ma'i, a young man who had talked his way onto a British ship and spent two years in England, back to his home in the Society Islands. Ma'i's issues become part of this story, and my one criticism of the book is that Sides devotes unnecessary attention to them.
On this voyage Cook was demonstrably less patient with infractions by his crew and dispensed lashings much more freely. His attitudes toward the Pacific Island native populations, once known for their patience and understanding, now tended to be erratic. Minor offenses such as thefts of inconsequential items could trigger a violent temper in Cook and result in destructive acts of revenge.
We can never have a absolute explanation for these changes. Perhaps the circumstances of the voyage - the ship was in poor repair, and he was forced to bring along, and care for, native British plants and animals to "improve" conditions for the islanders - took the edge off his normal adventurous spirit and left him irritable.
Tribes he had encountered previously showed evidence of his visits - their bargaining skills had improved, and venereal diseases had been transmitted from the sailors to local women (and thus the rest of the population). It could be that this disheartened Cook and his volatile behaviors reflected this.
It is certainly possible (and IMO this is the most likely explanation) that his physical or mental health was poor. Although Cook kept extensive journals, they include no reflections on his interior life or his health, and Sides does not attempt to invent any. Cook was buried at sea, leaving no possibility that his remains might be examined for clues.
Sides' description of the events leading up to Cook's death struck just the right tone for me. Not sensationalized, matter of fact, but still communicating a sense of mystery regarding Cook's decisions. These images stayed with me, and I found myself thinking about it well after I'd finished the book.
Were it not for the lengthy descriptions of Ma'i's time in England this would have been an easy 5 stars. Many thanks to Brendan for calling the book to my attention!
Sides had choices as to how to approach this material. Much ink has been spilled, as they say, by scholars debating the possible explanations. It would have been easy, and perhaps typical, for Sides to tell the tale and then conclude with an analysis of the various interpretations of Cook's behaviors.
That's not what he's done. He's quietly dropped suggestions as the story unfolds and left it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. I seem to have a fondness for tales, whether fiction or nonfiction, that require that I stretch my imagination and understanding, and I would say this falls into that category.
Cook was a brilliant navigator, an even more gifted cartographer, and something of an instinctive anthropologist. He seemed to have a sixth sense for locating remote islands and for identifying safe havens for his ships to moor, and he was known for his efforts to leave the native cultures he encountered undisturbed.
He was also appreciated as a fair captain who prioritized the needs of his crew and used the lash sparingly. Although he didn't understand the biochemistry of scurvy, he intuitively stocked his ships with foods that countered the outbreak of the disease that was responsible for a 50% death rate on ships with other captains. Cook's men survived.
His achievements in exploration and mapmaking were so highly valued that after his second voyage he was offered a cushy retirement at Greenwich. But when he learned of plans for a voyage with the objective of searching for a Northwest Passage starting from the Pacific Ocean rather than the Atlantic, he insisted on being put at the helm.
He was also charged with the responsibility of returning Ma'i, a young man who had talked his way onto a British ship and spent two years in England, back to his home in the Society Islands. Ma'i's issues become part of this story, and my one criticism of the book is that Sides devotes unnecessary attention to them.
On this voyage Cook was demonstrably less patient with infractions by his crew and dispensed lashings much more freely. His attitudes toward the Pacific Island native populations, once known for their patience and understanding, now tended to be erratic. Minor offenses such as thefts of inconsequential items could trigger a violent temper in Cook and result in destructive acts of revenge.
We can never have a absolute explanation for these changes. Perhaps the circumstances of the voyage - the ship was in poor repair, and he was forced to bring along, and care for, native British plants and animals to "improve" conditions for the islanders - took the edge off his normal adventurous spirit and left him irritable.
Tribes he had encountered previously showed evidence of his visits - their bargaining skills had improved, and venereal diseases had been transmitted from the sailors to local women (and thus the rest of the population). It could be that this disheartened Cook and his volatile behaviors reflected this.
It is certainly possible (and IMO this is the most likely explanation) that his physical or mental health was poor. Although Cook kept extensive journals, they include no reflections on his interior life or his health, and Sides does not attempt to invent any. Cook was buried at sea, leaving no possibility that his remains might be examined for clues.
Sides' description of the events leading up to Cook's death struck just the right tone for me. Not sensationalized, matter of fact, but still communicating a sense of mystery regarding Cook's decisions. These images stayed with me, and I found myself thinking about it well after I'd finished the book.
Were it not for the lengthy descriptions of Ma'i's time in England this would have been an easy 5 stars. Many thanks to Brendan for calling the book to my attention!
May 2, 2024
So I finished my fifth book by Hampton Sides and now must endure a two year or more wait for his next book (?) As my favorite writer of historical non-fiction that’s what I immediately came away with upon completing the last page.
Mr. Sides, is the consummate researcher and writer, he really makes historical events come alive. Between his acumen and erudition as an author, the subject matter concerning itself with 18th century maritime exploration, for me, well, it’s as though I can literally FEEL the salt spray, queasiness of endless days at sea and the aching muscles associated with being a crewman at the height of the age of sail. There are several bittersweet moments in the book, such as the the transformation of a Tahitian native, brought to England, becoming something of a bon vivant, educated and indoctrinated into “polite society” only to in the end witness him becoming a “man without a country”. Tribal societies, too, forever relinquishing a “loss of innocence” owing to the inevitable encroachment of civilization into their lives makes for food for thought as to whether Captain James Cook should shine for fostering an age of life enlightenment or should he vilified for aiding the colonization cause. The reader will have to decide.
Mr. Sides, is the consummate researcher and writer, he really makes historical events come alive. Between his acumen and erudition as an author, the subject matter concerning itself with 18th century maritime exploration, for me, well, it’s as though I can literally FEEL the salt spray, queasiness of endless days at sea and the aching muscles associated with being a crewman at the height of the age of sail. There are several bittersweet moments in the book, such as the the transformation of a Tahitian native, brought to England, becoming something of a bon vivant, educated and indoctrinated into “polite society” only to in the end witness him becoming a “man without a country”. Tribal societies, too, forever relinquishing a “loss of innocence” owing to the inevitable encroachment of civilization into their lives makes for food for thought as to whether Captain James Cook should shine for fostering an age of life enlightenment or should he vilified for aiding the colonization cause. The reader will have to decide.
May 5, 2024
Review to come. Got to think a bit first.
Having thought, and having looked over my highlights, then --
As Sides says in his Author's Note at the beginning, "In Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries."
So, no hagiography here; "The Wide Wide Sea" isn't the adult version of the morally and politically vacuous Europeans Discovered Things and Established Colonies narrative I daresay most of us in the global North heard in grade school (and probably high school as well). But of course none of the European explorers, even those consciously in the service of empire, could know the future, and they would have had to be extraordinarily perceptive to, for example, observe human sacrifice in Polynesia and recognize a kinship with capital punishment as practiced by their own governments. (And so on, with respect to everything from clothing to food to religious belief. Do the Natives prostrate themselves before their chiefs? Well, how about the way servants are supposed to turn their faces to the wall when the master of the house passes by?)
Anyway, it's easy to vilify the European explorers en masse, but if you can't see the future then how much responsibility do you appropriately bear for the consequences that flow, a hundred or two hundred years later, from your acts? I thought about this frequently as I read "The Wide Wide Sea," and came to no conclusion.
Remember how much heat Bill Maher took for pointing out that whatever you might say about the 9/11 hijackers, it made no sense to call them cowards, the way a chorus of establishment voices did? Same here. Sides vividly evokes the precarity and the terror of sea voyages over thousands of miles in tiny, often leaky ships with maggoty food, scummy water, and, especially, raging storms. Whatever we think of them, the explorer-captains had to be brave. Their crews had to be braver.
And, on the other hand. Mostly the European explorers approached Native peoples with contempt. Often they killed people. They brought rats and disease. And in their wake, as the quotation above points out, events that for many peoples and cultures amounted to the end of the world.
Sides makes some attempt to describe how Native peoples might have experienced their first encounters with Europeans, sometimes extrapolating from what human beings in general are like, sometimes quoting from Native oral histories that have been recorded. What, frustratingly, he doesn't much do is offer a critical perspective on his European sources themselves. He gives us their narrative of events, and in the absence of Native accounts, those narratives and perceptions are left to stand. The lack of Native accounts is of course not Sides's fault, but I do wish he had read his sources more critically.
An aspect of this book that I found heartbreaking: the abundant and (in the case of uninhabited islands) often fearless wildlife the explorers encountered. This richness, like so much human richness, has been devastated.
"The Wide Wide Sea" is always fascinating, often frustrating, and well worth the time spent reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.
Having thought, and having looked over my highlights, then --
As Sides says in his Author's Note at the beginning, "In Cook’s long wake came the occupiers, the guns, the pathogens, the alcohol, the problem of money, the whalers, the furriers, the seal hunters, the plantation owners, the missionaries."
So, no hagiography here; "The Wide Wide Sea" isn't the adult version of the morally and politically vacuous Europeans Discovered Things and Established Colonies narrative I daresay most of us in the global North heard in grade school (and probably high school as well). But of course none of the European explorers, even those consciously in the service of empire, could know the future, and they would have had to be extraordinarily perceptive to, for example, observe human sacrifice in Polynesia and recognize a kinship with capital punishment as practiced by their own governments. (And so on, with respect to everything from clothing to food to religious belief. Do the Natives prostrate themselves before their chiefs? Well, how about the way servants are supposed to turn their faces to the wall when the master of the house passes by?)
Anyway, it's easy to vilify the European explorers en masse, but if you can't see the future then how much responsibility do you appropriately bear for the consequences that flow, a hundred or two hundred years later, from your acts? I thought about this frequently as I read "The Wide Wide Sea," and came to no conclusion.
Remember how much heat Bill Maher took for pointing out that whatever you might say about the 9/11 hijackers, it made no sense to call them cowards, the way a chorus of establishment voices did? Same here. Sides vividly evokes the precarity and the terror of sea voyages over thousands of miles in tiny, often leaky ships with maggoty food, scummy water, and, especially, raging storms. Whatever we think of them, the explorer-captains had to be brave. Their crews had to be braver.
And, on the other hand. Mostly the European explorers approached Native peoples with contempt. Often they killed people. They brought rats and disease. And in their wake, as the quotation above points out, events that for many peoples and cultures amounted to the end of the world.
Sides makes some attempt to describe how Native peoples might have experienced their first encounters with Europeans, sometimes extrapolating from what human beings in general are like, sometimes quoting from Native oral histories that have been recorded. What, frustratingly, he doesn't much do is offer a critical perspective on his European sources themselves. He gives us their narrative of events, and in the absence of Native accounts, those narratives and perceptions are left to stand. The lack of Native accounts is of course not Sides's fault, but I do wish he had read his sources more critically.
An aspect of this book that I found heartbreaking: the abundant and (in the case of uninhabited islands) often fearless wildlife the explorers encountered. This richness, like so much human richness, has been devastated.
"The Wide Wide Sea" is always fascinating, often frustrating, and well worth the time spent reading. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.
January 27, 2024
I'm not really a history buff so when an author can engage me in a historical tale, I tip my hat. Hampton Sides does just that in this narrative of James Cook last sea voyage. I really didn't know anything about Cook going into this read, but his character is slowly revealed as we follow his attempt to find a northwest passage around the American continent. The crux of the book focuses on Cook's interactions with various indigenous peoples he meets on the lands he explores. Let's just say, some of these interactions went a lot better than others. Sides does a good job of giving the reader of how hard these voyages really were and how Cook needed to be a leader, a diplomat, a problem solver, - all while remaining calm, cool, and collected. This book was my second that I've tried from this author, and it definitely won't be my last.
February 3, 2024
I had recently read Hampton Sides’ book Blood and Thunder and enjoyed it, so I was happy to receive an ARC for this new book on Captain James Cook. The travel tale includes Cape Horn and the Pacific Islands as well as the Alaskan coastline as Cook tries to find a Northwest Passage. His mark on history was navigation skills and cartography as he drew new maps of these areas that only sketchily been filled in before. The downside was the negative influence on indigenous people culturally by trying to convert them to gardening and raising livestock, as well as his promiscuous seaman spreading venereal disease. He was eventually killed by some Hawaiian natives after a conflict quickly escalated resulting in a frenzy attack. The writing is compelling and interesting but a little to detailed at times, ie the sexual behavior was a bit too much information.
April 22, 2024
This is a six star book by Hampton Sides about the incomparable Captain James Cook, an exceptional man of the Enlightenment age.
His third and final sea voyage extends so far on the globe from south to north that he held the record for coverage of territory at the time.
Highly recommended!
His third and final sea voyage extends so far on the globe from south to north that he held the record for coverage of territory at the time.
Highly recommended!
June 25, 2024
In this 432 page book/16 hour audiobook The Wide, Wide Sea, Hampton Sides tells an engaging story from start to finish about Captain James Cook's third and final circumnavigating voyage (1776-1780). Cook had been tasked with returning a man named Mai from Raiatea (an island in what's now French Polynesia) home, then sailing to Alaska to try to find a Northwest Passage to expedite travel between the western edge of North America and Europe. On this voyage, Cook and his crews on the ships Resolution and Discovery were likely the first European visitors to what's now the US state of Hawaii, first visiting first the island of Kauaʻi in January 1778, and secondly and fatefully making landfall at Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawaii in January 1779, where Cook was killed on February 14 in an altercation between the native Hawaiians and the sailors.
I was a bit hesitant to pick up this book as I tend to find many popular history nonfiction books tedious (including some recent books released with much acclaim like Grann's The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder and Larson's latest The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War). The Wide Wide Sea greatly exceeded my expectations and was interesting and not at all tedious from start to finish. Sides is clearly a talented nonfiction writer and, at least in this book (as I haven't yet read his other books), masters the art of providing just enough detail without lengthy tangents, and strikes a good balance between objectively presenting past events without attempting a revisionist history or retroactive moral shaming of what was socially accepted in the past.
My stats:
Book 132 for 2024
Book 1735 cumulatively
I was a bit hesitant to pick up this book as I tend to find many popular history nonfiction books tedious (including some recent books released with much acclaim like Grann's The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder and Larson's latest The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War). The Wide Wide Sea greatly exceeded my expectations and was interesting and not at all tedious from start to finish. Sides is clearly a talented nonfiction writer and, at least in this book (as I haven't yet read his other books), masters the art of providing just enough detail without lengthy tangents, and strikes a good balance between objectively presenting past events without attempting a revisionist history or retroactive moral shaming of what was socially accepted in the past.
My stats:
Book 132 for 2024
Book 1735 cumulatively
May 31, 2024
Exceptional account of an explorer who mapped the Pacific coast of Alaska, many South Sea Islands, and was the first European to set foot on the Hawaiian Islands, which did not even appear on maps. He was apparently an outstanding and brave captain who navigated ships through treacherous season and weather. His descriptions of the native people, their appearance, clothing, boats, and customs are fascinating. Very readable and very interesting. Highly recommend.
Read
July 8, 2024Excellent. Highly readable. Exciting. At times poetic. Popular history of the highest order.
July 6, 2024
Another stellar book by Hampton Sides, one of America's best history writers.
April 24, 2024
What a book. It's kind of weighty, full of names, places, dates, etc., but I read it in just a few days. Could not put it down. Read it on the couch, in bed, on the deck in the windy sunshine. Lost track of some of the historical features but wow, what a book.
The story of Captain James Hook with emphasis on his last voyage. Sent by the Admiralty of England to find the Northwest Passage by going from the Pacific Northwest (North America) over and above Canada, through the Arctic Ocean, and then home to England. This was a reverse order voyage - those are my words - because at this time, and later, most voyagers searching for the passage went from east to west; Cook tried to go west from east.
Spoiler alert - he couldn't find one because it didn't exist.
But the story itself is so much bigger than all of that. In today's world - and thinking - the early European explorers didn't discover much of anything. Nope, not Australia or Tasmania, the islands of Polynesia, Hawai'i, none of it, nothing. But what many of them did do was explore, or make first contact with many, many cultures across these wide areas. This author, Mr. Sides, is very careful to acknowledge that how we viewed what these explorers of the 1600's - up and through the early 1900's - did was not 'find' or discover these cultures, these people, but simply made contact with them. Were the results often disastrous? Yes, and he documents episodes where the worst one can imagine did occur, however...
He also gives Cook a fair view as a man, a sailor, and leader of his time - and that Cook did try to limit the contact his officers and crew had with any new group, tribe or culture they encountered. Many of these contacts were peaceful - some were not. I find the author to be very balanced in how he treats the entire subject - which can currently be so controversial.
What I did find interesting were the reports of these cultures - the Tasmanians, for example -written by the naturalists, the doctor, and some of the 'ordinary' seamen aboard the two ships involved. They were fascinated! Often respectful. Learned the native languages and shared aspects of their own culture with these people. In one case Cook kept his men in the two boats of the expedition, refusing to let them 'consort' with the native women for fear of spreading disease to them. Unfortunately, that did not last long...
At the same time, Cook made the first good maps of many areas across the Pacific, and of the western coast of North America all the way up to and past Alaska. There's much to like about this book, as well as much to lament. I found it a richly fascinating read, eye-opening, and like I said, fair and balanced. Cook came to a sad end, for those who know, due to a series of weird misunderstandings. But I also found it remarkable that his name - and those of some of his officers - still exist on geographical features all over Alaska and into Canada. (I didn't know how many there were!)
Five stars
The story of Captain James Hook with emphasis on his last voyage. Sent by the Admiralty of England to find the Northwest Passage by going from the Pacific Northwest (North America) over and above Canada, through the Arctic Ocean, and then home to England. This was a reverse order voyage - those are my words - because at this time, and later, most voyagers searching for the passage went from east to west; Cook tried to go west from east.
Spoiler alert - he couldn't find one because it didn't exist.
But the story itself is so much bigger than all of that. In today's world - and thinking - the early European explorers didn't discover much of anything. Nope, not Australia or Tasmania, the islands of Polynesia, Hawai'i, none of it, nothing. But what many of them did do was explore, or make first contact with many, many cultures across these wide areas. This author, Mr. Sides, is very careful to acknowledge that how we viewed what these explorers of the 1600's - up and through the early 1900's - did was not 'find' or discover these cultures, these people, but simply made contact with them. Were the results often disastrous? Yes, and he documents episodes where the worst one can imagine did occur, however...
He also gives Cook a fair view as a man, a sailor, and leader of his time - and that Cook did try to limit the contact his officers and crew had with any new group, tribe or culture they encountered. Many of these contacts were peaceful - some were not. I find the author to be very balanced in how he treats the entire subject - which can currently be so controversial.
What I did find interesting were the reports of these cultures - the Tasmanians, for example -written by the naturalists, the doctor, and some of the 'ordinary' seamen aboard the two ships involved. They were fascinated! Often respectful. Learned the native languages and shared aspects of their own culture with these people. In one case Cook kept his men in the two boats of the expedition, refusing to let them 'consort' with the native women for fear of spreading disease to them. Unfortunately, that did not last long...
At the same time, Cook made the first good maps of many areas across the Pacific, and of the western coast of North America all the way up to and past Alaska. There's much to like about this book, as well as much to lament. I found it a richly fascinating read, eye-opening, and like I said, fair and balanced. Cook came to a sad end, for those who know, due to a series of weird misunderstandings. But I also found it remarkable that his name - and those of some of his officers - still exist on geographical features all over Alaska and into Canada. (I didn't know how many there were!)
Five stars
June 5, 2024
Fascinating book from start to finish. Hampton Sides is my favorite historical writer. He does a masterful job of describing Captain Cook's 3rd (and final) voyage, where he accidently discovered the Hawaiin Islands onhis way to find the non-existant northwest passage. Ihighly recommend it.
May 13, 2024
4✚🌎🌎🌎🌎
October 20, 2023
One of the best books I've ever read! I was absolutely spellbound reading about Captain Cook and his final voyage. I'll admit I knew pretty much next to nothing about him but what a man he was. The author painstakingly did their research in putting this book together. Typically stories like these can be dry and difficult to get through unless you are really into the subject matter but not this one. You will find yourself making excuses to get back to reading it. I can't say enough about it but just read it! You will learn so much and be fascinated at the same time. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
May 12, 2024
I’m not big on reviews or criticism, but this is one of the best books I’ve read all year. Sides is a brilliant writer that can write a gripping narrative while also providing a lot of meaningful detail. The balance between deep diving and keeping the pages turning isn’t easy to accomplish. Sides does that wonderfully here with Captain Cook. Sides also presents a well balanced account and recognizes the disastrous consequences of colonialism. Sides treats indigenous people of the time with the dignity and respect they deserve.
March 17, 2024
This fascinating and engaging history of James Cook’s last voyage presents a complicated man. He had extraordinary skills and abilities that had brought great fame and success, and yet fatal errors in judgement toppled the great man to his death.
After two voyages into uncharted waters, surveying and mapping unknown lands and making first contact with human societies across the Pacific, Cook was preparing for a comfortable retirement. But his king had another task for him: a third voyage with the mission of seeking a Northwest Passage. First, he was to return a man to his native homeland in the South Seas. In England, Mai became a celebrity and a dandy, and Cook resettled him with his numerous gifts, including livestock and plants from the king who wanted to display British civilization and superiority.
The voyage was filled with challenges. The Resolution’s subpar repairs resulted in leaks. There was the vagaries of the sea and weather to contend with. They met unfamiliar human societies both friendly and hostile. Life was complicated by Cook’s sometimes aberrant behavior and bad judgement.
Making first contact with Hawaii altered Cook’s luck. He arrived as the islanders were celebrating the god Lono, perfectly timed to for Cook to be considered the return of the god, and he was worshipped as Lono. The Resolution required extensive repairs resulting in the men overstayed their welcome, draining the island paradise’s resources. Meantime, the islanders were mad for anything made of iron, resorting to stealing it in their greed.
Cook sailed further than any man before, rounding the coast of Alaska and crossing the Arctic Circle. But he encountered ice instead of a northern shortcut and quickly turned back before the ships became encased in the ice. He returned to Hawaii for repairs and provisioning, but became embroiled in the conflict that ended his life. This visit, the islanders discovered that Cook was no god.
The book presents Cook, the good and the bad, and his legacy, the good and the bad. Cook had a scientific attitude, observing and recording the cultures and people he encountered without judgement. He was careful to protect the islanders from sexual disease, but he also left a ship load of rats behind. Cook’s emphasis on fresh foods resulted in no losses of crew to scurvy, while he was more diligent and brutal in his punishments. His discoveries of new lands gave his country impetitus for colonization to claim the natural resources, while missionaries arrived to enforce Christian beliefs and morality.
It was so interesting to learn about the many cultures Cook encountered, from New Zealand to the Inuit of Alaska.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
After two voyages into uncharted waters, surveying and mapping unknown lands and making first contact with human societies across the Pacific, Cook was preparing for a comfortable retirement. But his king had another task for him: a third voyage with the mission of seeking a Northwest Passage. First, he was to return a man to his native homeland in the South Seas. In England, Mai became a celebrity and a dandy, and Cook resettled him with his numerous gifts, including livestock and plants from the king who wanted to display British civilization and superiority.
The voyage was filled with challenges. The Resolution’s subpar repairs resulted in leaks. There was the vagaries of the sea and weather to contend with. They met unfamiliar human societies both friendly and hostile. Life was complicated by Cook’s sometimes aberrant behavior and bad judgement.
Making first contact with Hawaii altered Cook’s luck. He arrived as the islanders were celebrating the god Lono, perfectly timed to for Cook to be considered the return of the god, and he was worshipped as Lono. The Resolution required extensive repairs resulting in the men overstayed their welcome, draining the island paradise’s resources. Meantime, the islanders were mad for anything made of iron, resorting to stealing it in their greed.
Cook sailed further than any man before, rounding the coast of Alaska and crossing the Arctic Circle. But he encountered ice instead of a northern shortcut and quickly turned back before the ships became encased in the ice. He returned to Hawaii for repairs and provisioning, but became embroiled in the conflict that ended his life. This visit, the islanders discovered that Cook was no god.
The book presents Cook, the good and the bad, and his legacy, the good and the bad. Cook had a scientific attitude, observing and recording the cultures and people he encountered without judgement. He was careful to protect the islanders from sexual disease, but he also left a ship load of rats behind. Cook’s emphasis on fresh foods resulted in no losses of crew to scurvy, while he was more diligent and brutal in his punishments. His discoveries of new lands gave his country impetitus for colonization to claim the natural resources, while missionaries arrived to enforce Christian beliefs and morality.
It was so interesting to learn about the many cultures Cook encountered, from New Zealand to the Inuit of Alaska.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book.
May 11, 2024
3.5. Sides is a master storyteller. I just didn’t find this story as riveting as some of his previous books.
June 10, 2024
Ten stars. This book is readable and wildly interesting from beginning to end. Hampton Sides takes what has the potential to be dry history and makes it relatable and understandable. I found myself reading for hours because I wanted to keep going to find out how it ended - even though we all ultimately know how it ends. This is why Sides is one of my favorite authors.
This is one of the very few new books I've purchased in years. (Many of you know I'm a thrift book junkie.) I thrilled to have it in my library, and am also glad to have my purchase "count." Loved this book. Love this author. I highly recommend this read even for those who doubt they can love non-fiction; this is a book that will change minds.
This is one of the very few new books I've purchased in years. (Many of you know I'm a thrift book junkie.) I thrilled to have it in my library, and am also glad to have my purchase "count." Loved this book. Love this author. I highly recommend this read even for those who doubt they can love non-fiction; this is a book that will change minds.
June 3, 2024
Die Geschichte von James Cooks dritter und letzter Reise. Sie sollte über 1500 Tage dauern. Cook und der Kapitän des Schwesterschiffes werden auf der Reise sterben. Sie werden die Nord-West-Passage mit Einstieg von Alaska nicht finden (das es diese nicht gibt wusste man damals ja noch nicht) und die ganze Reise endet im Desaster.
Ein Stück Geschichte in einen spannenden und gut recherchierten Roman zusammengefasst. Da ich selbst mal am Ort des Denkmals von der Ermordung Cooks war (Hawaii, Big Island), konnte ich das Gelesene in Bilder umsetzen...
Ein Stück Geschichte in einen spannenden und gut recherchierten Roman zusammengefasst. Da ich selbst mal am Ort des Denkmals von der Ermordung Cooks war (Hawaii, Big Island), konnte ich das Gelesene in Bilder umsetzen...
June 16, 2024
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides is a mesmerizing book. Reading it shortly after Wild New World by Dan Flores made the experience richer. Flores’ book is a description of the different wildlife that roamed the North American continent from the beginning of time through the present day. Sides’ book is about the British explorer Captain James Cook, particularly his longest and final exploration in great detail, which encompasses everything from Tahiti and the islands around it, the Hawaiian Islands, up toward Alaska, and north into the Western Canadian wilderness in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Sides draws on numerous accounts of the three year voyage of two ships traveling together, including Cook’s own notes, the notes of others traveling on the ships, and other accounts from that time period. The goals of this massive exploration is to map various coastlines and the different locations where they stopped, describe the cultures inhabiting the lands they visited, as well as accurate information and illustrations of the plant and animal life.
The ships departed Great Britain in 1776, a period when the wildlife was abundant and very diverse (as Flores described in his book), and the reports of Cook and others were very detailed descriptions. It’s a literary travelogue, but filled with adventure, life threatening situations, emergency repairs that needed to be done, the tension of communicating with diverse cultures while staying among them for weeks at a time, some involved with human sacrifices. Sides describes what Puget Sound was like at this time: “Prince William Sound was a churning biological incubator—Cook’s men had never seen so much life crammed into one place, and right at the time when spring was coming on fast, with tendrils of green popping up from thin spots in the mushy snow. The men caught monster halibut and salmon and herring and cod, they shot ducks and geese, and along the mossy shores of spruce and alder they encountered foxes, wolves, bears, and mountain goats. High on the sheer cliff walls were chattering rookeries of kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, and other seabirds, while in the lagoons and tide pools, communities of starfish, urchins, anemones, and blue mussels clung to the barnacle-splotched boulders.”
Cook was a consummate seaman, navigator, and cartologist. Sides describes him: “Perhaps this was the most impressive quality Cook possessed: In clutch situations, he always seemed to know what to do—Cook the master mariner, who in 1770, on his first voyage around the world, had crashed into an underwater projection of the Great Barrier Reef. The collision caused what was surely a mortal gash; his Endeavour would have sunk but for some fast thinking on his part. He ordered the crew to hurl cannons, casks, and stone ballast overboard so he could float the ship and employed a spare sail to essentially wrap the hull’s wound—a technique known as ‘fothering.’ Then he limped the Endeavour into a river mouth on the Australian coast to repair her injuries.”
The expedition returned to the Hawaiian Islands after their Alaskan leg and discouraging search for the Northwest Passage, with the intent to winter over in warmer climate, and take another run at looking for the passage that might connect the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between the Artic Circle and the boarder between America and Canada. This is when things take a turn for the worse, and Captain Cook, who so many young members of the journey looked up to as a father figure, was mortally wounded. The book goes into details of what transpires, the lives lost during the conflict, and two subsequent deaths of the surgeon and another senior member (in their mid thirties). What probably saved the day was the number of repeat crew that had traveled with Cook on his other expeditions. There was not another Captain better equipped to expose his men to all aspects of long distance naval exploration and any related issues, than Captain James Cook.
After each exploration a book or folio was always published, including many of the voyagers’ notes, maps drawn by Cook and the few other crewman capable, illustrations of the many unique sights and experiences they encountered. Sides notes, “In 1784, four years after the voyage returned home, the official published account of the expedition was finally released to British bookstores. Subsidized partly by the Admiralty, it bore the grandiloquent title A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. The monumental publication ran to 1,617 pages, divided into three quarto volumes, along with a separate folio atlas containing exquisite maps and eighty-seven plates of artwork. Despite its formidable heft and exorbitant cost—five pounds—A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean sold out in a single day.”
The ships departed Great Britain in 1776, a period when the wildlife was abundant and very diverse (as Flores described in his book), and the reports of Cook and others were very detailed descriptions. It’s a literary travelogue, but filled with adventure, life threatening situations, emergency repairs that needed to be done, the tension of communicating with diverse cultures while staying among them for weeks at a time, some involved with human sacrifices. Sides describes what Puget Sound was like at this time: “Prince William Sound was a churning biological incubator—Cook’s men had never seen so much life crammed into one place, and right at the time when spring was coming on fast, with tendrils of green popping up from thin spots in the mushy snow. The men caught monster halibut and salmon and herring and cod, they shot ducks and geese, and along the mossy shores of spruce and alder they encountered foxes, wolves, bears, and mountain goats. High on the sheer cliff walls were chattering rookeries of kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, and other seabirds, while in the lagoons and tide pools, communities of starfish, urchins, anemones, and blue mussels clung to the barnacle-splotched boulders.”
Cook was a consummate seaman, navigator, and cartologist. Sides describes him: “Perhaps this was the most impressive quality Cook possessed: In clutch situations, he always seemed to know what to do—Cook the master mariner, who in 1770, on his first voyage around the world, had crashed into an underwater projection of the Great Barrier Reef. The collision caused what was surely a mortal gash; his Endeavour would have sunk but for some fast thinking on his part. He ordered the crew to hurl cannons, casks, and stone ballast overboard so he could float the ship and employed a spare sail to essentially wrap the hull’s wound—a technique known as ‘fothering.’ Then he limped the Endeavour into a river mouth on the Australian coast to repair her injuries.”
The expedition returned to the Hawaiian Islands after their Alaskan leg and discouraging search for the Northwest Passage, with the intent to winter over in warmer climate, and take another run at looking for the passage that might connect the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between the Artic Circle and the boarder between America and Canada. This is when things take a turn for the worse, and Captain Cook, who so many young members of the journey looked up to as a father figure, was mortally wounded. The book goes into details of what transpires, the lives lost during the conflict, and two subsequent deaths of the surgeon and another senior member (in their mid thirties). What probably saved the day was the number of repeat crew that had traveled with Cook on his other expeditions. There was not another Captain better equipped to expose his men to all aspects of long distance naval exploration and any related issues, than Captain James Cook.
After each exploration a book or folio was always published, including many of the voyagers’ notes, maps drawn by Cook and the few other crewman capable, illustrations of the many unique sights and experiences they encountered. Sides notes, “In 1784, four years after the voyage returned home, the official published account of the expedition was finally released to British bookstores. Subsidized partly by the Admiralty, it bore the grandiloquent title A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. The monumental publication ran to 1,617 pages, divided into three quarto volumes, along with a separate folio atlas containing exquisite maps and eighty-seven plates of artwork. Despite its formidable heft and exorbitant cost—five pounds—A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean sold out in a single day.”
April 30, 2024
I had only ever heard good stories/history about Captain James Cook and honestly do not remember ever hearing about his third [and last] voyage or his death during that voyage so I was excited to read this.
Yeah.
Imagine learning that someone you admired did an about face and became someone that even his shipmates didn't recognize and then finding out they died [in a brutal and ugly way] because of said behavior; THAT is what happens with this book, and I was left just wondering if I should still admire all the good that Captain Cook did, or will I ever be disillusioned by what I just learned? The jury is still heavily out on that.
This telling, by the respected author and historian Hampton Sides, is nothing short of brilliant. I cannot even imagine all the time and research that went into an endeavor such as this. There was just so much detail and I learned SO MUCH about the sailing ships of that time and how they ran and what happened while they were on the voyage [there was never a case of scurvy on Captain Cook's ships, but who needs that when you have a plethora of venereal disease??] - I was completely enthralled for most of the book [something that blew me away was, that they left England on September 12, 1776 and only learned bits and pieces about the War for Independence whilst on their trip - crazy to think about] and some of what I learned reminded me of the movie "Master and Commander" in how they dealt with "bad people" on board and how they rationed food etc.
While I was saddened to read such an account of someone who I respected [along with a lot of other people], I find I am not particularly surprised. Given his age and frame of mind when he left, it is no wonder that he went a little off the rails. Makes one wonder, now with modern medicine, if something like Alzheimer's or a brain tumor was at work here as well [given just how dramatically different he was on this voyage from his previous ones]; of course, we will never know [especially because of how he was murdered - EEK!! That was a section that was particularly gruesome]; it is just more food for thought than anything else at this point.
If you love history, if you are a fan of Captain Cook, if you love anything to do with the sea and sailing and discover, this book is for you. It is just filled with so much that will amaze you and also fill you with both anger and deep sadness, it would be a shame to skip it. It is one of the best reads for me so far this year!!
Thank you to NetGalley, Hampton Sides, and Doubleday Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Yeah.
Imagine learning that someone you admired did an about face and became someone that even his shipmates didn't recognize and then finding out they died [in a brutal and ugly way] because of said behavior; THAT is what happens with this book, and I was left just wondering if I should still admire all the good that Captain Cook did, or will I ever be disillusioned by what I just learned? The jury is still heavily out on that.
This telling, by the respected author and historian Hampton Sides, is nothing short of brilliant. I cannot even imagine all the time and research that went into an endeavor such as this. There was just so much detail and I learned SO MUCH about the sailing ships of that time and how they ran and what happened while they were on the voyage [there was never a case of scurvy on Captain Cook's ships, but who needs that when you have a plethora of venereal disease??] - I was completely enthralled for most of the book [something that blew me away was, that they left England on September 12, 1776 and only learned bits and pieces about the War for Independence whilst on their trip - crazy to think about] and some of what I learned reminded me of the movie "Master and Commander" in how they dealt with "bad people" on board and how they rationed food etc.
While I was saddened to read such an account of someone who I respected [along with a lot of other people], I find I am not particularly surprised. Given his age and frame of mind when he left, it is no wonder that he went a little off the rails. Makes one wonder, now with modern medicine, if something like Alzheimer's or a brain tumor was at work here as well [given just how dramatically different he was on this voyage from his previous ones]; of course, we will never know [especially because of how he was murdered - EEK!! That was a section that was particularly gruesome]; it is just more food for thought than anything else at this point.
If you love history, if you are a fan of Captain Cook, if you love anything to do with the sea and sailing and discover, this book is for you. It is just filled with so much that will amaze you and also fill you with both anger and deep sadness, it would be a shame to skip it. It is one of the best reads for me so far this year!!
Thank you to NetGalley, Hampton Sides, and Doubleday Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 28, 2024
Thanks to Doubleday for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.
This is not my first book on James Cook, however, I think it is my first one since pulling back the veil of colonization has become the norm. I feel like this was a more fair assessment of the impact of the explorer age on the world. I told us how Cook was mostly an exception to the rule with his Quaker sentiments.
He was known for being quite fair and had more of a fascination with the science and anthropology of interacting with new cultures. While there are many things around the world named for the English he personally used indigenous names trying to honor the autonomy of the peoples he encountered. He did not convert and did not engage with violence, with only one killing attributed to him in his whole life… And that was in the final minutes. He kept detailed records, so a lot of what we know came from him.
He had a bit of an understanding about disease and curiously found the cure for scurvy without really knowing it. And he was always trying to restrict his men who had venereal diseases from interacting with the natives, albeit not successfully. He had a mostly humble way with a human first approach… Until the very end when the Hawaiians mistook him for a god and things went awry…
This book has a little something for everyone: adventure and discovery, history, science, anthropology and of course violence.
Read this one if you liked The Wager.
This is not my first book on James Cook, however, I think it is my first one since pulling back the veil of colonization has become the norm. I feel like this was a more fair assessment of the impact of the explorer age on the world. I told us how Cook was mostly an exception to the rule with his Quaker sentiments.
He was known for being quite fair and had more of a fascination with the science and anthropology of interacting with new cultures. While there are many things around the world named for the English he personally used indigenous names trying to honor the autonomy of the peoples he encountered. He did not convert and did not engage with violence, with only one killing attributed to him in his whole life… And that was in the final minutes. He kept detailed records, so a lot of what we know came from him.
He had a bit of an understanding about disease and curiously found the cure for scurvy without really knowing it. And he was always trying to restrict his men who had venereal diseases from interacting with the natives, albeit not successfully. He had a mostly humble way with a human first approach… Until the very end when the Hawaiians mistook him for a god and things went awry…
This book has a little something for everyone: adventure and discovery, history, science, anthropology and of course violence.
Read this one if you liked The Wager.
June 8, 2024
Loved the book. As someone with an affinity for travel, exploring, and "sailing" the Pacific (USS Kansas City and USS Reid, Westpac II cruise 1985), I found it particularly alluring.
The author brilliantly captures the historical context of Pacific exploration (let’s quickly skirt over the Artic, as Cook should have), bringing to life the adventures and personalities of early explorers, families, shipmates, and those they encountered and left behind.
This book slightly mirrors my own journeys through dozens of islands—some tiny and uninhabited, others vibrant with distinct cultures like Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. Unexpected shoals, exotic food and animals, smiling impoverished locals, often surrounded by natural wonders and beauty. It was an unforgettable experience.
Despite almost 250 years passing since Cook's explorations, so little of the human condition has actually changed. The book captures this enduring essence of human personalities, tribalism, cultural conflicts, health and disease, and the promise of science and technology.
Yet the awe and wonder of exploration remains, thus we’re off again
to the depths of the Mariana trench
to the Sea of Tranquility
and to the vistas of Olympus Mons
So we beat on,
boats against the current.
The author brilliantly captures the historical context of Pacific exploration (let’s quickly skirt over the Artic, as Cook should have), bringing to life the adventures and personalities of early explorers, families, shipmates, and those they encountered and left behind.
This book slightly mirrors my own journeys through dozens of islands—some tiny and uninhabited, others vibrant with distinct cultures like Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. Unexpected shoals, exotic food and animals, smiling impoverished locals, often surrounded by natural wonders and beauty. It was an unforgettable experience.
Despite almost 250 years passing since Cook's explorations, so little of the human condition has actually changed. The book captures this enduring essence of human personalities, tribalism, cultural conflicts, health and disease, and the promise of science and technology.
Yet the awe and wonder of exploration remains, thus we’re off again
to the depths of the Mariana trench
to the Sea of Tranquility
and to the vistas of Olympus Mons
So we beat on,
boats against the current.
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