In 1797, Billy Budd is forced into service aboard the HMS Bellipotent. After arousing the antagonism of the ship's master-at-arms, truth and justice are intertwined in a moral dilemma that will decide Billy's very fate.

A sailor called Ishmael narrates the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, a white whale which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee. Although the novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, its reputation as a Great American Novel grew during the 20th century. William Faulkner confessed he wished he had written it himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world", and "the greatest book of the sea ever written." Moby Dick is considered as an outstanding work of Romanticism. The product of a year and a half of writing, the book draws on Melville's experience at sea, on his reading in whaling literature, and on literary inspirations such as Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies and asides. This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.

In 1797, Billy Budd is forced into service aboard the HMS Bellipotent. Billy's innocence, good looks and natural charisma make him popular among the crew. After arousing the antagonism of the ship's master-at-arms, Billy is in a precarious situation where truth and justice are intertwined in a moral dilemma that will decide his very fate.

While Moby Dick is Herman Melville's best known book Billy Budd Sailor is considered by many to be his greatest work. Billy a foundling from Bristol has an innocence good looks and a natural charisma that make him popular with the crew. His only physical defect is a stutter which grows worse when under intense emotion. He arouses the antagonism of the ship's master-at-arms John Claggart. Claggart while not unattractive seems somehow defective or abnormal next to Billy. Despite Claggart's animosity towards him Billy saves Claggart's life further infuriating the man. Claggart then accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny. Billy dumfounded by the accusation becomes unable to defend himself against Claggart's words because of his stuttering and in frustration strikes the lying Claggart with a blow so powerful that it kills the man instantly. In the ensuing trial Melville explores good and evil justices and mercy right and wrong and natural law verses man's law. A Masterpiece for the Ages!

Stung by the critical reception and lack of commercial success of his previous two works, Moby-Dick and Pierre, Herman Melville became obsessed with the difficulties of communicating his vision to readers. His sense of isolation lies at the heart of these later works. "Billy Budd, Sailor," a classic confrontation between good and evil, is the story of an innocent young man unable to defend himself against a wrongful accusation. The other selections here-"Bartleby," "The Encantadas," "Benito Cereno," and "The Piazza"-also illuminate, in varying guises, the way fictions are created and shared with a wider society. In his introduction Frederick Busch discusses Melville's preoccupation with his "correspondence with the world," his quarrel with silence, and why fiction was, for Melville, "a matter of life and death." Book jacket.