Captain Cook Rediscovered is the first modern study to frame Captain James Cook’s career from a North American vantage. Although Cook is inextricably linked to the South Pacific in the popular imagination, his crowning navigational and scientific achievements took place in the polar regions. Recognizing that Cook sailed more miles in the high latitudes of all of the world’s oceans than in the tropical zone, this book gives due attention to his voyages in seas and lands usually neglected. David L. Nicandri acknowledges the cartographic accomplishments of the Australasian first voyage but focuses on the second- and third-voyage discovery missions near the poles, where Cook pioneered the science of iceberg and icepack formation. This ground-breaking book overturns an area of study that has been typically dominated by the “palm-tree paradigm” – resulting in a truly modern appraisal of Cook for the climate change era.

David L. Nicandri's profile page

David L. Nicandri is the former executive director of the Washington State Historical Society, where he served from 1987 until his retirement in 2011.

David Nicandri's Introduction to this elegant volume summarises the arguments that he develops at length...few will change their minds entirely on reading Nicandri's arguments, but for many (including this reviewer) the book will make them look afresh at the well-worn accounts of Cook's three voyages.

Cook's Log, Vol. 44

David Nicandri has ransacked the archives and libraries in order to demonstrate, which he fully does, his view that, although many have seen Cook as an explorer of the tropics, it is in icy wastes and choked channels that Cook was at his best as a careful navigator and observer.

BC Studies, Issue 209

Ambitious … courageous … [Nicandri] targets inconsistencies in the scholarly treatment of Cook's actions … an unquestionably strong book.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly

Captain Cook Rediscovered is an impressively researched book...There is no denying the quality of Nicandri's historical work. When read alongside the works of Ryan Tucker Jones and Bathsheba Demuth, this book proves essential in helping us better understand European exploration of the North Pacific.

Alaska History