Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

Tony Horwitz (2003)
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THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before is a travel book by Pulitzer Prize winning Tony Horwitz, who follows in Cook’s footsteps to learn more about the legendary explorer.  He starts as a volunteer actually sailing on an actual replica of the Endeavour, Cook’s first ship, where he helps sets the scene for the pain and suffering of being an 18th century sailor.  From there he visits the Society Islands, Tonga, New Zealand, the small island of Niue, Alaska, Hawaii, and finally to Cook’s home in North Yorkshire, England, usually traveling with a comical Australian sidekick named Roger.  The book focuses less on Horwitz’s travels and more on Cook’s history and character, although visiting the destinations directly does help drive better observations on what Cook must have experienced, and his legacy in those places he discovered, two centuries earlier.
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ABOUT TONY HORWITZ

Tony Horwitz is an American journalist and writer.  He spent years overseas as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal covering conflict in Africa and the Middle East, and upon returning home he won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.  His books primarily revolve around travel and American history.  Two of his most popular books, Confederates in the Attic (1998) and Midnight Rising (2011), cover the Civil War.  He also has written travel books following the paths of the first European settlers to come to America, his adventures traveling in the Middle East, and a book on a trip to Australia.  

ABOUT CAPTAIN JAMES COOK

Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook

Those who liked Blue Latitudes will certainly like the true story of Captain Cook and his travels, best told by Martin Dugard.  This is the true story of one of the world's most famous explorers, well researched and featuring excerpts from Cook's own journals.  Click here to read our review of Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook.

GREAT QUOTES FROM BLUE LATITUDES

"In Cook's day, Tahiti's bountiful landscape fed tens of thousands of people, as well as the hundred hungry sailors aboard the Endeavour. Now, the equation was reversed: a tiny fraction of Tahitians lived on the land, and roughly 85 percent of their foodstuffs were imported from Europe."

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