The True Story of the Death of Captain James Cook

Native Hawaiians have long been confused by the history they learn at school, which doesn’t match up with the family stories they have heard so often from their elders. Drawing on oral histories and personal interviews with elderly Hawaiians, author Jack Kelly presents this first essay in a series of modern treatments of Hawaiian history, reflecting the truth as it was lived, told and retold by the people of the Islands. This grassroots history of events leading up to the bloody 1779 death of famed British explorer James Cook reflects a Hawaiian perspective on the power struggle underway on the Islands at the time. Rather than revering Cook as a god upon his arrival, as some British accounts hold, Hawaiians more likely tolerated Cook’s presence in hopes of manipulating him to procure weapons for tribal warfare. Hawaiians hoped to use Cook just as he was attempting to use them -- establishing a pattern that would be repeated countless times throughout the history of Hawaiian encounters with the West. Only with the arrival years later of another great explorer, Captain George Vancouver, as recounted in the next book in this series, would tribal leaders get the British support and arms they wanted, changing the course of Hawaiian history.
Kelly’s perspective as a longtime coffee farmer, journalist, photographer and cultural activist in Hawaii lends authenticity to this e-book, which includes a bonus link to a multimedia photo story, “Kealakekua Bay, Past & Present.”