James Cook was, for his days, in many ways a progressive captain and explorer. As Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser remarked about him, he disclosed the long concealed and admirable arrangements of the Almighty in the formation of the globe. On most occasions, he managed to get along peacefully with the Indigenous people he met on his voyages. But on February 14th, in the year 1779, on the Big Island of Hawai´i, something went terribly wrong. Seventeen Hawaiians, four marines and Cook himself were killed in a violent confrontation. James Cook redraw our image of the Earth, but he was also part of the imperial policy of his nation. Hampton Sides´ portrait of the man and his times is not only well balanced and highly informative, but also exciting to read. (See also: Grann, The Wager)