Gananath Obeyesekere is Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University. His many books include The Work of Culture: Symbolic Transformation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology and, with Richard Gombrich, Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka (Princeton).

List of Illustrations Myth Models Improvisation Rationality and Savage Thought The Third Coming: A Flashback to the South Seas The Visit to Tahiti and the Destruction of Eimeo The Discovery of Hawaii The Thesis of the Apotheosis Further Objections to the Apotheosis: Maculate Perceptions and Cultural Conceptions Anthropology and Pseudo-History Politics and the Apotheosis: A Hawaiian Perspective The Other Lono: Omiah, the Dalai Lama of the Hawaiians Cook, Lono, and the Makahiki Festival The Narrative Resumed: The Last Days The Death of Cook: British and Hawaiian Versions Language Games and the European Apotheosis of James Cook The Humanist Myth in New Zealand History The Resurrection and Return of James Cook The Versions of the Apotheosis in the Traditions of Sea Voyagers Cook, Fornication, and Evil: The Myth of the Missionaries On Native Histories: Myth, Debate, and Contentious Discourse Monterey Melons; or, A Native's Reflection on the Topic of Tropical Tropes Myth Models in Anthropological Narrative The Mourning and the Aftermath Afterword: On De-Sahlinization Appendix I: The Destruction of Hikiau and the Death of William Watman Appendix II: Kalii and the Divinity of Kings Notes Bibliography Index

Here Gananath Obeyesekere debunks one of the most enduring myths of imperialism, civilization, and conquest: the notion that the Western civilizer is a god to savages. Using shipboard journals and logs kept by Captain James Cook and his officers, Obeyesekere reveals the captain as both the self-conscious civilizer and as the person who, his mission gone awry, becomes a "savage" himself.In this new edition of The Apotheosis of Captain Cook, the author addresses, in a lengthy afterword, Marshall Sahlins's 1994 book, How "Natives" Think, which was a direct response to this work.