This new interpretation of Cook's life and death by a great historian of marine exploration argues that the circumstances and reporting of his death are the key to his reputation. For many years he enjoyed unparalleled status as 'the pride of his century' and in the white settlements in the Pacific as 'father of the nation'. By contrast first in Hawaii and then in the postcolonial world a different view emerged of a destructive invader, as much anti-hero as the reverse. His progress from obscurity to fame and then, for some, to infamy, is a story that has never been fully told.