Overview

Endeavour is the story of a ship, an idea, and a way of looking at the world. It is grounded in the Enlightenment, an age of endeavors, with Britain consumed by the impulse for grand projects undertaken at speed. Endeavour was also the name given to a collier--a commonplace coal-carrying vessel--made of oak, bought by the Royal Navy in 1768. No one could have guessed it would go on to become the most significant ship in the chronicle of British exploration. As Charles Darwin wrote, Endeavour added an entire hemisphere to the civilized world when it carried Captain James Cook on his first major voyage, newly charting the existence of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia. Endeavour also had a role in American history. During the battles for control of New York in 1776, she witnessed the bloody birth of the republic. As well as carrying botanists, a Polynesian priest, and the remains of the first kangaroo to arrive in Britain, she transported Hessian soldiers to American shores as well as Newcastle coal. NASA ultimately named a space shuttle in her honor. But to others she was a toxic symbol of empire, responsible for dispossession and disruption. The first history of its kind, Peter Moore's Endeavour: The Ship That Changed the World is the epic telling of the ship's many lives. Using meticulous research, Moore tells the story of one of history's most defining sailing ships, and in turn shines new light on the ambition and consequences of the Enlightenment.

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9781982620929

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Reviews

Moore's richly detailed book is an engrossing love letter to a word, an attitude, and a ship...that honors Endeavour, without denying the death and destruction that followed in her wake. -- Guardian (London) Endeavour is a dazzling combination of science and adventure, lyrically evocative descriptions of lush tropical landscapes and salt-stung seascapes, and a portrait of an age of 'magnificent geniality'...Endeavour is an absolute joy from start to finish, and surely my history book of the year. -- Sunday Times (London) Endeavour is an extraordinary book about an unlikely ship that defined an age...The book reminded me of one of those opulent eighteenth-century feasts enjoyed by King George-endless exotic dishes all delivered with exquisite style. Like the age it recounts, it is a book of energy, creativity and self-confidence. -- Times (London) Acute insight into the ship that carried some of the most successful explorers across the world. A fine book that's definitely worth exploring. -- Michael Palin, English comedian, actor, television presenter, and author of Erebus A deeply satisfying book...Paying homage to the remarkable lives of a single vessel, Peter Moore also gives the Endeavour a new lease of life long after its sinking. -- Literary Review (London) Endeavour is a dazzling combination of science and adventure, lyrically evocative descriptions of lush tropical landscapes and salt-stung seascapes, and a portrait of an age of 'magnificent geniality'...Endeavour is an absolute joy from start to finish and surely my history book of the year. -- Sunday Times (London)

Acute insight into the ship that carried some of the most successful explorers across the world. A fine book that's definitely worth exploring. -- Michael Palin, English comedian, actor, television presenter, and author of Erebus A deeply satisfying book...Paying homage to the remarkable lives of a single vessel, Peter Moore also gives the Endeavour a new lease of life long after its sinking. -- Literary Review (London) Moore's richly detailed book is an engrossing love letter to a word, an attitude, and a ship...that honors Endeavour, without denying the death and destruction that followed in her wake. -- Guardian (London) Endeavour is an extraordinary book about an unlikely ship that defined an age...The book reminded me of one of those opulent eighteenth-century feasts enjoyed by King George-endless exotic dishes all delivered with exquisite style. Like the age it recounts, it is a book of energy, creativity and self-confidence. -- Times (London) Endeavour is a dazzling combination of science and adventure, lyrically evocative descriptions of lush tropical landscapes and salt-stung seascapes, and a portrait of an age of 'magnificent geniality'...Endeavour is an absolute joy from start to finish and surely my history book of the year. -- Sunday Times (London)

Author Information

Peter Moore teaches creative writing at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Damn His Blood and The Weather Experiment: The Pioneers Who Sought to See the Future, which was a Sunday Times (London) bestseller and one of the New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2015, and was adapted for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series. He lives in London with his family. Ric Jerrom is an actor, writer, and artist. He has written plays for radio and the theater, film scripts, short stories, poetry, and journalism. He's performed in many radio plays and on the stage. He is one of the leading performers and directors with the UK's greatest interactive comedy theatre ensemble, Natural Theatre Company. Ric's read a host of audiobooks, including Barbara Taylor Bradford's The Ravenscar Dynasty, James Herbert's Others, and several titles by Ruth Rendell.

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