Moby Dick (HarperCollins American Classics)

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. Moby Dick is the extraordinary story of Captain Ahab's all-consuming hunt for the leviathan Moby Dick, an epic tale of adventure, free will, and man vs. nature, beginning with one of the most memorable opening lines in literary history: "Call me Ishmael."

Thus begins a famous journey—the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod and its embattled, monomaniacal Captain Ahab. Ishmael quickly learns that the Pequod’s captain sails for revenge against the elusive Moby Dick, a sperm whale with a snow-white hump and mottled skin that destroyed Ahab’s former vessel and left him crippled. As the Pequod sails deeper through the nights and into the sea, the divisions between man and nature begin to blur—so do the lines between good and evil, as the fates of the ship’s crewmen become increasingly unclear....

Melville’s classic tale of obsession and the sea, one of the most important and enduring masterworks of nineteenth-century literature is a riveting drama, exploring rage, hope, destiny, and the deepest questions of moral truth.