Discoveries. The Voyages Of Captain Cook

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: As New
Jacket Condition: As New
Publisher: Allen Lane
Publisher Place: Australia
Publisher Year: 2003
Edition: First Edition

Description: 467 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in As new condition throughout.

Publishers Description: Cooks great voyages marked the end of an era in world history. As he sailed into Hawaii in January 1778 he made contact with the last of the human civilizations to grow up independently of the rest of the world. But equally for the Polynesians and Melanesians of the Pacific, Cooks arrival in their midst merely marked a further (if disastrous) twist in diverse histories already many centuries old. In this book, Cooks journeys are re-imagined, attempting to leave behind (or master) our later preoccupations to let us see what Cook and his associates experienced and what the societies he encountered experienced - from the Beothuks of Newfoundland to the Tongans of the Friendly Islands. Nicholas Thomas draws on 20 years research into Pacific art, culture and history to explore the drama of Cooks expeditions. Central to the story is Cooks curiosity. A brilliant map-maker even before he entered the Pacific, Cook would journey emotionally and intellectually into unknown waters and meet people on beaches who were used to voyaging themselves. Tahitians, Maori and Hawaiians would position this enigmatic visitor on their own maps, in ways he could neither understand nor control. Their meetings would be sometimes rewarding, sometimes dangerous, always strangely rich and unpredictable.

ISBN: 9780713995572