Blue Latitudes CD : Boldly Going Where Captain Cook has Gone Before

Rating:
Summary: Decent, informative, amusing book.
Review: Decent, informative, and amusing book.
(6 out of 10)

Tony Horwitz' book, Blue Latitude, is part travelogue, and part history book. The author writes about his tales retracing the three voyages that Captain Cook took to the Pacific Ocean around 1770-1780. Horwitz' retracing is not exact nor the site visitations in chronological order with Cook's visits. This is mainly due to the logistics of travel.

If memory serves me correctly, Horwitz visits the North west coast of America, then swings south to Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, back up to Cook islands, England, the island of Tonga, the Unalaska Alaskan Islands (you read that right) and onto Hawaii.

The cultural and environmental demise of most of these islands is much the same. Materialism, missionaries, and venereal diseases would devastate each island, destroying much of the culture. Many would despise Cook's journey, but ironically, it would be Cook and his crew's journals that would help these islands reconstruct the traditions of their ancestors.

Horwitz covers a lot of ground. From what it was like living on a ship, to the hardships of living in England, to the customs of Pacific culture. His manner is that of a well informed friend. There were times where you were pressing to know more, but overall, I was happy he gave perhaps a slightly more than cursory treatment of the various topics. Since I'm not a history buff, nor a serious traveler, but rather part of the "masses" on this subject, anything more than what Horwitz presents would have been nauseating details.

Let me list some of the best parts of the book. The opening chapters describing Horwitz experience on replica of the Endeavor, the boat used by Cook on his first journey, really conveys to the reader the danger, and the toil that sea travel was back in the 18th century. That chapter was the most memorable, and it's lessons of hardship provides a good background for the rest of the book. Of course, that doesn't meant the rest of the book is all down hill. The Epicurean tastes of his best science officer, Banks who was a party animal, when contrasted against the hard life of the rest of Cook's crew was funny in a rather dark way. Perhaps the most intriguing story was the circumstances of Cook's death in Hawaii, and it is here I really wish Horwitz had gone into more detail.

The modern day travels were also amusing. These include a traditional, drunken party in Australia celebrating Cook's discovery of Australia which to some degree reminds me of a crude Mardi Gras-like celebration in New Orleans. The quest for the Red banana on the island of Tonga, a traditional fruit believed to be forever lost. The brutally cold visits to the Unalaska islands of Alaska make you marvel at the temerity of Cook and his crew. And of course, there was Horwitz funny, drunk and quick-witted friend from Australia, Roger who would travel with Horwitz for most of the itinerary.

Perhaps the most serious thing lacking in this book are the pictures. It would be great to see the ship that Cook sailed on. It would have been informative to see the before and after pictures of the various islands overrun by western culture.

This book is neither a boring nor exciting. Think of this book as sitting down with a good friend and having him tell you his vacation stories. It's a pleasant experience, but since this is a book not a friend, you can't ask any questions and 'direct' the conversation. In that sense the book can be frustrating. The friend-conversation analogy is apt. Just like friends, at times I wanted to know about Tony Horwitz, and not so much about his adventures. Horwitz came off as more a reporter, and I think his book could have benefited from telling us what exactly he was thinking at the time. Is it possible to think of Cook, every thought throughout the several months? Probably not.

To that end, books similar to Blue Latitudes but where the authors have no problem telling you exactly what they were thinking, I recommend the following:

Travels by Michael Crichton
Primate's Memoirs by Robert Sapolsky

The first is about the spiritual awakenings of the author. The latter is about the author's adventures in Africa as a grad student studying primates.

So in summary, Blue Latitude is a decent read filled with amusing anecdotes of history and of the author's travels. It's a light book, and because of that, you may not come away with any sort of wisdom. But for those who may be wondering what it would be like to adventure or vacation on the "high seas", then this book can provide you insight, and for some, it might just be the vacation they need.

Rating:
Summary: The Discovery and the Aftermath
Review: In a way, this book comes in two flavors - Captain Cook's actual voyages, and the author's visiting the places that the captain had discovered. Of this, the three voyages are well known and have been written up sufficiently. But Horwitz puts an interesting slant on the natives Cook encountered rather than the discoveries themselves. We learn about the Tahitians and their customs, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Aborigines of Australia, and the people of Tonga, of Hawaii, and the Aleuts of Unalaska. He acquaints us with Cook's main helper, the biologist Joseph Banks, and some of his officers, such as William Bligh of later mutiny fame, and John Ledyard who is still remembered in Connecticut (ironically, the town bearing his name now sports a gigantic native Indian gambling casino).

And so the islands were pristine and at peace. It is the author's aim to show us how this has changed into murder, thievery and disease. There are not many of the natives left and those he found were most anxious to forget about Cook. his discoveries and their aftermath. It would be wrong, of course, to blame all this on Cook. If it had not been for him, somebody else would have discovered the islands of the Pacific - and probably with the same results.

The conclusion: One should not supplant an original culture with one's own imported one. Both will suffer and there will never be a satisfactory result. Yet such action continues into our 21st century.

Rating:
Summary: Horwitz, Out of the "Attic"
Review: Tony Horwitz had a tough task in following up his massively successful "Confederate in the Attic." Give him credit, "Blue Latitudes" certainly is no quickie effort to cash in on Horwitz's now-famous name. Instead, the author travelled tens of thousands of miles researching the legacy of Captain James Cook, arguably the greatest of all European explorers. Like "Attic" the book is part history, part travelogue and part social commentary. Horwitz includes mnay more historical information this time out, most likely because far fewer readers are intimately familiar with Cook's voyages than the Civil War.

Horwitz starts his journey by sailing on a replica of Cook's first ship Endurance to get a feel for 18th Century shipboard life. He then spends most of the remaining time traipsing around the Pacific with his Australian friend Roger, who provides the same kind of narrative counterpoint as Robert Lee Hodge did in "Attic." Horwitz documents the changes that have occurred in Oceania because of Cook's "discoveries" and interviews numerous islanders to find out how they feel about Cook's legacy. The results are often surprising and enlighteneing.

Having said all of that, "Blue Latitudes" is not a classic on the order of "Attic." The narrative is a lengthy at nearly 450 pages and is sluggish at times. Companion Roger is not nearly as interesting a character as was Hodge and the moments of uproarious humor that made "Attic" so entertaining are mostly missing this time out. Nevertheless, "Blue Latitudes" is still a well-written and worthwhile read for those with an interest in the subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: Horwitz does it again...
Review: Tony Horwitz has had two back-to-back smash hits in his Pulitzer prize-winner Baghdad Without a Map and the critically acclaimed Confederates in the Attic. He now has added another gem to his body of work in Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before.

James Cook seems largely to be forgotten to history. Yet, his was probably the most incredible voyage of discovery. Just the story of how Cook came to be a navigator is a fascinating one. In a day where the children of laborers did not receive an education, a mentor took notice of Cook and paid for four years of school. Cook was ambitious and worked hard to fill in the gaps in his education. As a teen, he moved from a store clerk to working on a coal ship to finally joining the Royal Navy, where he rose very rapidly through the ranks.

The tales of Cook's three voyages to the Pacific are an unbelievable story. This man of humble beginnings became one of the world's greatest explorers. In the course of 10 years, his Pacific travels covered over 200,000 miles at a time when one third of the world was unknown and unmapped. He traveled "140 of the earth's 180 degrees latitude, as well as its entire longitude." He probably named more places (rivers, islands, points, bays, bluffs, etc.) than any other man, before or since. He was a shrewd handler of men--both those above and below him in rank. He was a prolific writer of journals and logs, which are still read today. Cook was also a brilliant surveyor and chart maker, and his map of New Zealand was used up until the 1990's (when it was finally replaced by satellite images). His voyages also led to the discovery of thousands of new plants and animals, and his claiming land for Britain helped to eventually lead Britain in becoming a major empire that spanned 11 thousand miles.

But what makes Blue Latitudes a true delight is Horwitz's travelogue. In his attempt to follow in Cook's footsteps and see locations as Cook might have seen them, Horwitz travels to Canada, Tahiti, Bora-Bora, New Zealand, Australia, Niue, Tonga, England, Alaska and Hawaii. With his sidekick Roger, his travels are often hysterical. His week spent on a replica of the Endeavour (complete with 14 inches of hammock space) is especially a hoot. But it is also depressing to discover that the European explorers (not just Cook) changed the way of life on these islands. Many brought with them disease, STD's, materialism and religion. They also tried to eradicate the native culture and native populations. Horwitz also discovered that while Cook is revered in England, he is pretty much reviled among the Pacific nations he visited. Yet ironically, journals, diaries, logs and sketches from Cook's travels are in some cases the only record of these native cultures. It was also distressing to Horwitz was to discover that very little actually exists from Cook's time. Places he lived, worshipped and worked are pretty much gone. The sites he visited are also much changed. Cliff Thornton, president of the Captain Cook Society told Horwitz that "the best you can do is catch an echo of the man. You can almost never reach out and touch him."

The only thing lacking from this almost perfect book is pictures. There are plenty of maps and a painting of Cook. It would have been fascinating to see photos of the many places Horwitz traveled. I don't expect to be traveling to Bora-Bora, Tonga, Niue, Tahiti, or the other locations mentioned any time soon. Still, Blue Latitudes is a wonderful book and even those not much interested in history will find a fascinating story here.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining sampling of Cook for the non-historian
Review: Tony Horwitz spends a year and a half visiting many of the places Captain Cook visited from 1768 - 1779. The book culminates with Cook's violent death in modern day Hawaii.

The book alternates back and forth between Cook's 18th century experience and Mr. Horwitz's modern day travels. Horwitz does an excellent job of interpreting the various sources available and giving an account that the historical layperson can relate to. Key characters include the author, Cook, the colorful Joseph Banks (the Endevour's Botanist) and Horowitz's even more colorful traveling companion Roger Williamson. Horwitz paints a picture of Cook as an austere, yet fair man-seemingly driven to the edges of the earth. As driven as Cook is to explore the world, Banks is driven to explore the anatomies of females from different Polynesian cultures. Roger is mainly content to explore the bottle and make wisecracks about Horwitz's adventure. If you think Blue Latitudes sounds like a dry historical piece, you're sorely mistaken. Any potential dryness is quickly quenched by Horwitz's wit, Banks's "botanizing" and Roger's boozing.

Much to my wife's amusement I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading Blue Latitudes. Despite that, I found myself strangely moved after reading the account of Cook's death. While the consequences of Cook's voyages are complex, you cannot help but feel a great admiration for this man who started with so little yet went so far. Great book, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Intro to the Life and Travels of Captain James Cook
Review: Tony Horwitz' book is a terrific, light-hearted and educational introduction into the life and explorations of Captain James Cook.

I first really became aware of Cook when I visited Hawaii for the first time. Later, a Kiwi acquaintance told me a bit more about him, and then while reading W.H. Brands' Franklin biography, I learned that Cook had navigated the St. Lawrence Seaway for the British just prior to the Battle on the Plains of Abraham. I became fascinated with Cook, who seemed to have been everywhere and yet was so little known.

Blue Latitudes is a "where are they now" retracing of Cook's landfalls. More interesting is Horwitz and his sidekick Roger Williamson's, search for physical evidence of Cook's life. It's pretty slim pickings. A man like Cook who spends his life on the sea doesn't leave many traces on land. Cook was almost as elusive as the historical Jesus: someone who had a great impact on the world but didn't leave too many footprints.

Horwitz could have found no better traveling mate than Williamson. First, Roger brings a lot of boozy humour to the book (maybe too much!). Second, he like Cook is a native son of Yorkshire who also made it to Australia. Third, Cook's crewman of the same surname played a role in Cook's untimely death.

The book could have used more maps. Nice glossy color pictures would have been nice too. Overall, though, it's a fun first foray into the life and travels of Captain James Cook.

Rating:
Summary: Blue Latitudes
Review: What do we know about one of the greatest circumnavigators and explorers of all times, Captain James Cook?
Perhaps it can be best summed up in the introduction to Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Horwitz's riveting book Blue Latitutdes, when the author refers to Alistair MacLean's statement "we know all about Cook and we know nothing about him."

To unravel the mystery, Horwitz retraces the three great epic voyages of Cook. We travel with him to such destinations as Bora Bora, the Bering Sea, The Great Barrier Reef, Tonga, Kealakekua Bay, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Savage Island, and Alaska.
Meticulously Horwitz researches his topic and brilliantly intertwines his own personal travel experiences with those documented by Cook and his crew.
Moreover our author's keen intellect is effectively captured in the conversations he conducts with many of the various local inhabitants whom he spontaneously encounters during his wanderings.

From these discussions and research we notice the dichotomy of Cook's legacy. On the one hand there are those, such as historian Bernard Smith, who contend, "that wherever he went he was spreading the curses much more liberally than the benefits of European civilization."
In fact, some of the natives and their descendants Horwitz encounters, considered Cook to be a heinous character that wrought on native people: disease, greed, thievery and prostitution.
On the other hand, many rightfully point out that when Cook commenced his voyages, a third of the world remained blank. When he violently was killed in 1779 in Hawaii, the world's map was substantially complete.

Apart from researching the geographical settings of Cook's voyages, Horwitz also experienced the life as a shipman during the era of this great globetrotter.
In order to accomplish this feat, the author initiates his journey by signing up as a volunteer crewmember of a museum-quality replica of Cook's first ship called the Endeavour.
The boat travelled from Gig Harbour, Washington to Vancouver, British Colombia.
At each port the ship's professional crew took on volunteers to help sail the next leg.
The objective was to experience the lifestyles of eighteenth century sailors and, as we discover from reading the first chapter, this mission was accomplished, to a limited degree.

Blue Latitudes is a truly remarkable book in that the author tackles a considerable undertaking in order to expose the ghosts of the past. No doubt, after reading the book, we gain a tremendous amount of knowledge pertaining to this renowned adventurer. Although, we may still ask, will the real James Cook stand up, in order that we can identify him?

This review first appeared on reviewer's own site
www.bookpleasures.com