In English and many other languages the name «Kon-Tiki» is a byword for adventure and the
exotic. The journey of the Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 became one of the founding
myths of the postwar world. In the voyage of six Scandinavians and a parrot on a balsa raft
across the Pacific Ocean the classic journey of discovery was re-invented for generations to
come. Kon-Tiki spoke of heroism masculinity free-spirited rebellion against scientific
dogmatism and the promise of an attainable exotic world while it updated these mythological
staples to fit the times. After years of relentless media exploitation of the 101-day raft
journey Heyerdahl emerged as the protagonist in a legend that helped to create a new postwar
West. A Hero for the Atomic Age tells the story of how Heyerdahl organized an expedition to
sail a balsa raft from Callao in Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia and explains
how he turned this physical crossing into an epic narrative that became imbued with a universal
appeal. The book also addresses the problematic nature of Heyerdahl's theory that a white
culture-bearing race had initiated all the world's great civilizations.
