The Wide Wide Sea
Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
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4.6 • 652 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling and superbly crafted” (The Wall Street Journal) 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.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES, TIME, THE ECONOMIST, NPR, THE NEW YORKER, THE SMITHSONIAN, AND KIRKUS REVIEWS
“In this masterly history, Sides tracks the 18th-century English naval officer James Cook’s third and final voyage across the globe, painting a vivid and propulsive portrait."—The New York Times Book Review
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. 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Historian Hampton Sides charts a course through the fateful final days of Captain James Cook’s life in this enthralling account. Through exhaustive research, Sides details Cook’s last voyage aboard the HMS Resolution in 1776 with a multidimensional approach that examines everything from the legendary explorer’s deteriorating engagements with the indigenous people of Hawaii to his role in the treacherous global ambitions of the British Empire. Blending thrills and intrigue with meticulous historical analysis, Sides dissects Cook’s role in the Age of Exploration as a whole, analyzing how key elements like first contact and imperialism have reverberated throughout the modern era. A masterwork of narrative nonfiction, The Wide Wide Sea delivers high-seas adventure, a mysterious murder, and a nuanced reexamination of one of history’s most complicated figures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Sides (On Desperate Ground) recreates in this propulsive account the final expedition of Captain James Cook (1728–1779), which culminated with his murder by native Hawaiians. Diving into the long-standing mystery of what went wrong, Sides spins an observation made by previous chroniclers—that "on his final voyage something wasn't quite right with the famous captain... his personality had definitely changed"—into a sidelong indictment of imperialism. Tracing Cook's transformation from toast of the Enlightenment, a heroic "mariner-scientist" who ferried naturalists around the world and made friends with Natives, to violent authoritarian who dispensed brutal punishments for minor infractions, like theft of supplies, against Indigenous communities as well as his crew, Sides eschews the conventional "medical" explanation of Cook's "profoundly changed... outlook." Instead, Sides insinuates, the "sinister force pulling at his psyche and his soul" was Cook's growing conviction—heightened by increasingly frequent signs that Spanish vessels were exploring the same territories in the Pacific—that he must be more ruthless in claiming new land for Britain. With an admirably light touch, Sides teases out his convincing thesis amid a riveting day-by-day narrative of the voyage and fascinating asides on such matters as the fierce anthropological debate over whether the Hawaiians really considered Cook to be the god Lono. This exquisitely crafted and novelistic portrait of the mercurial captain enthralls.
Customer Reviews
See AllA bread read, very captivating
So well written…a fabulous adventure story of discovery. It’s almost as if the reader is alongside Captain Cook aboard his majestic ship.
Extraordinary
I’ve read several books about Capt Cook. This is by far away the best for many reasons. The story telling is extraordinary, the detail incredible, and the balance of explanation about Cook and the Indigenous people he encounters is highly commendable. A great read!
Fun, informative, and worth it!
Going in, I had a perception the author would favor Cook despite his connection to imperialism; HOWEVER, I was pleased to learn that isn’t the case. The book simply recounts the unique, historical events that happened during Cook’s 3rd voyage from a neutral perspective. A lot of research went into making this book, and I appreciated learning about Cook’s approach to interacting with indigenous people, his internal reflections about the ramifications of interacting with them, and how he sought to protect them in certain ways from his men.