Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable names in Australian history – an almost mythical figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled, and debated. But who was the real James Cook?
 
This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, navigator, and cartographer of his era, and to personally map a third of the world globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation. Leading a crew of men into uncharted territories, Cook would face the best and worst of humanity as he took himself and his crew to the edge of the mapped world – and beyond.
 
Now, 240 years after James Cook’s death, FitzSimons reveals what kind of man James was at heart. His strengths, his weaknesses, his passions and pursuits, failures, and successes.