Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz

Follows Captain Cook and his voyages, interspersed with the author's own travels and research on the same locales, and investigating how Cook is remembered now: both revered and hated. It is amazing how a man with such humble beginnings in a class-bound society could accomplish so much. Though he achieved great fame and acclaim, his life was hard and seemingly comfortless. A picture of a lonely, self-driven man who must have loved the sea. He boldly went where no man had gone before!