Why Read Moby-Dick?

This brief title is historian Philbrick's (The Last Stand) valentine to Herman Melville's singular masterpiece—a book that, perhaps, is the most equally admired and avoided classic in American literature, although those who have embraced it know that it also is one of the few revered works capable of surpassing its formidable reputation. In numerous, brief chapters, Philbrick, who also narrates, presents in very simple terms his argument for why Melville's briny story of obsession and revenge becomes more relevant as history glides forward like the Pequod on its doomed voyage. Maybe the key to understanding life's mystery is knowing that, as aboard the ship, a madman is in charge, and you're powerless to stop him. He scrutinizes the novel's core characters—Ishmael, Queequeg, Pip, Starbuck, Ahab, and the whale itself—and ponders the ocean-deep well of Melville's creativity and melancholy. He was a man whose zeal for life was matched by an equally profound sadness.