Here at Huc & Gabet Blogspot it is one superstar after
another at the moment. This particular
superstar is probably bigger than Michael Jackson and Jah Wobble combined, in
that his popularity, fame and influence is still being noticed after almost 250
years. Yes, Captain Cook was/is a
superstar. Sure, he wasn’t in any movies
and as far as I know he didn’t record any hits, but he may have been a
sportsperson (I haven’t fact checked this, so I can only suppose) and he was
very popular at the time… maybe not so popular in Hawaii, or Australia and
probably New Zealand, but the British loved him.
And why wouldn’t they love him, the guy was ‘the pride of his century’. Besides an illustrious career in the Royal
Navy he was also a fearless explorer going where no man had gone before… at
least no British man. As with many superstars
(eg. Michael Jackson) his life came to a rather dramatic early end due to a
bloody and chaotic fracas in Hawaii, except in Cooks case the interwebs,
facebook and twitter hadn’t been invented, so it took a year before anyone
heard about it. It’s his life and death
and the aftermath of this news that is the subject of this book. I like the idea.
In Australia, Cook, as with many other superstars, is a
larger than life figure in our history which is why I picked up this book. There are those who have issues with him and
his legacy… a bit like Michael Jackson detractors… but either way, I believe that
his influence here is undeniable. This
book doesn’t just look at Australia and it’s history via Cook, from what I can
gather it’s considerably broader in scope… a bit like Jah Wobbles musical
career.
No comments:
Post a Comment