"The Traveler" | Reviewed by Bill Schwab

"The Traveler: One Man’s Quest to Discover Our Shared Humanity" recounts the life of naturalist and anthropologist George Forster, who was born in 1754 in a hamlet outside Danzig, Poland (modern-day Gdansk). George was the shy but curious son of a strict and cantankerous father.

At the age of 17, the young man joined Captain Cook's second voyage on the HMS Resolution that had orders to find the "southern continent." The search for Antarctica required the expedition to stop at many South Pacific islands, including New Zealand, Tahiti, and Easter Island, over its 3-year duration.

While the voyage's objective was to expand the British Empire, George became captivated by the unique societies on the various islands. He sketched plants and wildlife on each isle, and witnessed cultures that opened his eyes to the astonishing variety of human experience. His curiosity, tolerance, and humanity stood in sharp contrast to the perspectives of his European contemporaries.

Upon the Resolution's return to Britain, the crew received a royal welcome. George was invited to address King George III. The now experienced mariner received countless honors and several offers of publication. He accepted a proposal to write a chronicle of his travels which he titled, "A Voyage Round the World." It was the Age of Enlightenment, when Kant and Rousseau developed theories about individual liberty, reason, and science, but George wrote about these subjects from firsthand experience.

Published in 1777, the book addresses complex scholarly and moral questions arising from his encounters with various peoples. Some of the questions George wrestled with were: what drove the Māori people to practice cannibalism? How could the Polynesians have scattered themselves over so many Pacific islands without metal tools and no writing ability? How should these strangers be understood? And what is it that makes humans human? George maintained that "No one should judge a people without considering the moral principles that guide them... this way we avoid any accusations of imposing our values upon a foreign nation."

This keen observer was the first to deduce that a migration from Southeast Asia had settled the South Pacific. He asserted that these diverse islanders were not savages but that the "nature of man may differ depending on the climate."  He repeatedly refuted the European judgment that cannibals were not human and voiced opposition to white supremacy and slavery. He was one of the earliest Europeans to support universal human rights.

Once the initial celebration of the ships' return faded, all that introverted George wanted was to settle into a quiet life of work and marital happiness. But neither would come. His overbearing, hot-tempered father undermined his confidence, and he married a thoroughly unsuitable wife, Therese Heyne, in Göttingen. His angry, unfaithful wife replaced his wrathful, belittling father.

  George lived his final days in Paris during the French Revolution. He died at 39, exhausted and alone, at the height of the "Reign of Terror," when the guillotine was dropping "32 heads in 25 minutes on the last day of 1793."

Andrea Wulf's biography of George Forster fills a gap in the chronicle of early naturalists. It is a thoroughly researched and riveting work. Her descriptions are richly detailed, including the ship's measurements and the supplies it carried, such as "642 gallons of wine and 1,397 gallons of spirits." I was rapt by Wulf's immersive description of George Forster's awakening, his bravery as a seaman, and his enlightened understanding of human rights. In summarizing his life, Wulf values George as a serious thinker, a talented linguist and artist, and a kind, moral humanist who has been overlooked for too long.

About the author: Andrea Wulf was born in India, where her parents were developmental aid workers. She moved to Germany when she was five. Wulf is the author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller "The Invention of Nature," a biography of Prussian naturalist, explorer, and geographer Alexander von Humboldt. She currently lives in London.

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