The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific

Here Gananath Obeyesekere debunks one of the most enduring myths of imperialism, civilization, and conquest: the notion that the Western civilizer is a god to savages. Using shipboard journals and logs kept by Captain James Cook and his officers, Obeyesekere reveals the captain as both the selfconscious civilizer and as the person who, his mission gone awry, becomes a savage himself.In this new edition of The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, the author addresses, in a lengthy afterword, Marshall Sahlinss 1994 book, How Natives Think, which was a direct response to this work.