Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic, island hops the Pacific Ocean in Captain James Cook's wake. Cook's three 18th century expeditions charted vast tracts of the Pacific and made the first European contact with many of its inhabitants. Horwitz interweaves this historical account with his own visits in the modern day, documenting the positive and negative aspects of Cook's legacy in conversations with everyone from Maori gang members in New Zealand to the King of Tonga. From Australia to the Aleutian Islands, Tahiti to Hawaii, even sailing aboard a replica of Cook's ship, Horwitz brews an engrossing combination of biography and travelogue. -- János

Request Blue Latitudes from the Saint Paul Public Library.