Hampton Sides Returns: The Wild and Tragic Tale of Captain James Cook

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Hampton Sides is a Santa Fe-based historian and bestselling author who has written many books that are favorites of Mountain & Prairie listeners, including "Blood and Thunder," "On Desperate Ground," and "Ghost Soldiers." His newest book is "The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook," which is available now and sitting high on the New York Times bestseller list. If you’re a longtime Mountain & Prairie listener, then I’m sure you’re glad to see that Hampton has joined me for yet another podcast conversation.

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Much of Captain Cook’s epic third voyage takes place far from the mountains and prairies of the American West, in tropical paradises including Tahiti and Hawaii. But what you may not realize, is that a big portion of his final voyage was spent exploring and mapping the west coast of North America, from the rocky shores of present-day Oregon and Washington, all the way up to Alaska. While I was somewhat familiar with Cook and his explorations, I didn’t fully understand or appreciate the mind-blowing scale of his journeys or his impact on world history.

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As is the case with all of Hampton’s books, he melds together deep and extensive research with thrilling storytelling to make the process of understanding history as entertaining as it is educational. While Cook is obviously a central figure in "The Wide Wide Sea," the book also profiles numerous fascinating Polynesian and Indigenous historical figures, including the Tahitian man named Mai, whom Hampton and I discussed at length in our September 2021 episode. If you haven’t already listened to that episode, I’d encourage you to do so when you’re done with this one– there’s a link in the episode notes.

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Hampton and I met up here in Colorado Springs, one of many stops on his book tour for The Wide Wide Sea. As usual, we had a fun and at times very funny conversation about history, his research and writing process, and all things Captain Cook. We started out discussing why Hampton is drawn to write about controversial historical figures, and we talked at length about how he combined historical accounts from Europeans with those from the Indigenous communities that Cook visited. We talked about the mystery of Cook’s dramatic personality change, how Cook’s arrival disrupted the equilibrium of Polynesian cultures, Cook’s leadership style both before and after his personality change, how Hampton organized such massive amounts of research, and how and why he works so hard to get his books into the world. He also gives a sneak peek into his next book, which will based here in Colorado and explores one of the West’s most notorious massacres.

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A huge thank you to Hampton for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me again, and thank you for listening. Enjoy!

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• Hampton Sides

• The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides

• Hampton’s M&P episode discussing Mai

• BOZEMAN FILM EVENT: Good Fire, Bad Fire

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

4:30 - Discussing Hampton’s recent time on the road, and why Hampton values in-person readings

7:00 - Why write about Captain Cook

10:45 - Captain Cook, pre-1776

16:45 - Cook’s ship

21:15 - Exploring Cook’s mental health

25:30 - Exploring humans’ predisposition towards greed

29:30 - The importance of doing boots-on-the-ground research for history

32:00 - How Cook kept scurvy at bay

34:30 - Hampton’s biggest unexpected discovery while writing The Wide Wide Sea

38:00 - Whether or not Hampton experienced apprehensions about telling the story of a complicated person like Cook

42:00 - Discussing the circumstances that led to Cook’s death

45:45 - Discussing some of Cook’s personality traits and cultural differences between Cook and the Māori

49:30 - How Hampton organizes his quotes for writing

53:45 - How Hampton actually sells his books

58:00 - Hampton’s plans for the future

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