Moby Dick

"Call me Ishmael." One of the most famous opening lines in all of literature launches one of its most ambitious novels. Ishmael signs aboard the whaling ship Pequod under the command of the obsessive, one-legged Captain Ahab, whose sole mission is vengeance against Moby Dick — the legendary white sperm whale that took his leg on a previous voyage. What follows is part sea adventure, part philosophical epic, part encyclopaedia of the whaling world. Melville ranges across mythology, religion, and the darkest depths of human obsession as the Pequod circles the globe on its doomed pursuit. Widely considered the greatest American novel ever written, Moby Dick is a book that rewards every reader who dares take the plunge. There are few stamps on some of the book pages.