
Why Read Moby-dick?
Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 24, 2013
A Nonfiction pick for readers exploring Why Read Moby-dick?.
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- Who it’s for
- A serious, readable way into Melville’s orbit, with enough context to keep the conversation lively.
- Genres
- Books & Reading, American Lit Crit, 19th-Century Literary Criticism
- Published
- Penguin Publishing Group, September 24, 2013
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Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
Sailing Alone Around the WorldJoshua Slocum50% match
The White NileAlan Moorehead47% match
Moby-dick: Or, the WhaleHerman Melville, Bob Eggleton73% match
1776David McCullough48% match
Bunker HillNathaniel Philbrick58% match
Lord JimJoseph Conrad49% match
For younger readers: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, The Highest Tide, Mawson in Antarctica
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A “brilliant and provocative” (The New Yorker) celebration of Melville’s masterpiece—from the bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea, Valiant Ambition, and In the Hurricane's Eye One of the greatest American novels finds its perfect contemporary champion in Why Read Moby-Dick?, Nathaniel Philbrick’s enlightening and entertaining tour through Melville’s classic.
Continue reading
As he did in his National Book Award–winning bestseller In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick brings a sailor’s eye and an adventurer’s passion to unfolding the story behind an epic American journey. He skillfully navigates Melville’s world and illuminates the book’s humor and unforgettable characters—finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and, indeed, to all times. An ideal match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? will start conversations, inspire arguments, and make a powerful case that this classic tale waits to be discovered anew. “Gracefully written [with an] infectious enthusiasm…”—New York Times Book Review
Why It Works
A serious, readable way into Melville’s orbit, with enough context to keep the conversation lively.
Come here for
- Moby-Dick lens, not homework
- New England literary footing
Expect
- layered literary framing
- reference-friendly, not fussy
Where it sits
| American Lit Crit | 71% |
|---|---|
| 19th-Century Literary Criticism | 59% |
| Books & Reading | 48% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- American Lit Crit
- Books & Reading
- 19th-Century Literary Criticism
- Authors
- Nathaniel Philbrick
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- September 24, 2013
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- American Lit Crit