The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Co

《广阔海洋》（The Wide Wide Sea）是美国作家汉普顿·赛德斯（Hampton Sides）的一部力作，于2024年由道布尔戴出版社出版。这部历史作品不仅是一部对18世纪英国海军上尉詹姆斯·库克最后一次航行的恢弘叙述，更是一次对殖民主义、文化冲突以及历史人物复杂性的深刻反思。

赛德斯通过精准的历史重构和充满张力的叙事，带领读者重新走进那段充满传奇色彩的航程。库克，这位18世纪最伟大的航海家之一，以其卓越的航海技能和对科学的贡献而闻名于世。然而，赛德斯在书中揭示了一个复杂且充满争议的历史人物。库克的最后一次航行，既是其辉煌生涯的巅峰，也是他命运的终结。在与夏威夷土著人的冲突中，库克不幸丧命，这一事件不仅是库克个人命运的终结，也标志着大航海时代与土著世界的最终碰撞。

赛德斯不仅详细叙述了库克的航海壮举，更将焦点放在他与夏威夷土著人的冲突上，深入探讨了殖民主义的阴影以及库克在历史中的复杂遗产。他通过细腻的笔触再现了库克在海上的壮丽景象与种种挑战，同时也揭示了库克在坚守科学与秉持尊重土著文化的初衷与秘密殖民使命之间的矛盾与挣扎。

《广阔海洋》不仅仅是一部历史冒险小说，更是一部充满哲思的反思之作。赛德斯成功地将历史爱好者的冒险情怀与学术研究者的反思需求结合得天衣无缝，让读者在感受航海冒险壮丽景象的同时，也能深入思考历史人物的复杂性以及历史事件的深远影响。

这本书获得了广泛的好评，被《经济学人》杂志评为2024年度最佳历史类图书，并被誉为“对詹姆斯·库克这一复杂人物的深刻探索，兼具冒险精神与历史反思”。无论是对于热爱历史的读者，还是对于关注文化与社会问题的读者来说，《广阔海洋》都是一部不可多得的佳作。它让我们意识到，历史并非黑白分明，而是充满了复杂性与多元性，值得我们用心去探索与理解。

书名：The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

作者：Hampton Sides

简介：From New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, an epic account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day

On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides’ bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.