Cook: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook.

NICHOLAS THOMAS

Few men have had as much written about them as Captain James Cook, cited by many historians, especially in Great Britain and Australia as the greatest sea explorer of all time. Most of the previous tales of this British maritime giant have charted his travels throughout the Pacific. Thomas proposes that the time has come to focus instead on Cook's anthropological and scientific contributions. The text omits Cook's early life story and fast-forwards to age 39, just before he began his trio of epic voyages. Thomas, a professor of anthropology, draws from voyage journals and illustrations to examine Cook's influence on and study of natives in the Pacific islands. He explains how Cook defined stereotypes of those people that linger to this day and reviews how Cook's sailors introduced what would come to be devastating venereal diseases to native populations. However, this biography is neither a heroic nor a defamatory look at Cook but rather an attempt to deal with the "messy actualities of the past," writes Thomas. In this vein, Thomas details Cook's legacy from mapping newly discovered regions and colonizing lands, including Australia, Antarctica, and New Zealand. Furthermore, the author charts the flora and fauna logged by Cook and his crew as they landed in these exotic locales. This is a definitive book on a mythic character. Walker, 2003, 467 p., b&w photos/illus., hardcover, $28.00.