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Moby-Dick

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Cormac McCarthy.

Cormac McCarthy’s Unforgiving Parables of American Empire

He demonstrated how the frontier wasn’t an incubator of democratic equality but a place of unrelenting pain, cruelty, and suffering.
by Greg Grandin via The Nation on June 21, 2023

The Literal (and Figurative) Whiteness of Moby Dick

For Herman Melville, the color white could be horrifyingly bleak.
by Gabrielle Bellot via Literary Hub on August 1, 2019

Herman Melville at Home

The novelist drew on far-flung voyages to create his masterpiece. But he could finish it only at his beloved Berkshire farm.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on July 22, 2019
Section of "A Whaling Voyage 'Round The World," depicting three ships, with whales and sailors in rowboats in the water

Did North America's Longest Painting Inspire Moby-Dick?

Herman Melville likely saw the panorama “Whaling Voyage,” which records the sinking of the whaler Essex, while staying in Boston in 1849.
by Allison C. Meier, Robert L. Carothers, John L. Marsh, Kevin J. Avery, Nenette Luarca-Shoaf, Henry F. Pommer via JSTOR Daily on June 20, 2018
Illustrated sperm whale with blue stripes of water.

The Original 1851 Reviews of Moby Dick

There was little indication 166 years ago that the book would enter the canon of great American fiction.
by George Ripley, Henry F. Chorley, London John Bull, William Young via Literary Hub on September 8, 2017
Herman Melville; illustration by Maya Chessman.

Siding with Ahab

Can we appreciate Herman Melville’s work without attributing to it schemes for the uplift of modern man?
by Christopher Benfey via New York Review of Books on July 25, 2024
original

Freedom By the Sea

On the trail of whales, Melville, and Douglass in New Bedford.
by Ed Ayers on August 9, 2023
original

Pieces of the Past

Dispatches from a spine-tingling day of visits to the places where James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and Thomas Cole created their most famous works.
by Ed Ayers on March 15, 2023

What Herman Melville Can Teach Us About the Trump Era

He would point out that what plagues us are America's sins coming home to roost.
by Ariel Dorfman via The Nation on May 10, 2017
William Faulkner and Ralph Ellison.

What the Novels of William Faulkner and Ralph Ellison Reveal About the Soul of America

The postwar moment of a distinctive new American novel—Nabokov’s "Lolita"— is also the moment in which William Faulkner finally gained recognition.
by Edwin Frank via Literary Hub on November 19, 2024
A bowl of old-fashioned chowder with a spoon on the side

Chowder Once Had No Milk, No Potatoes—and No Clams

The earliest-known version of the dish was a winey, briny, bready casserole.
by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on May 16, 2023
Roger Payne and Scott McVay's aural spectrograph rendering the whale sequences

Minor Listening, Major Influence: Revisiting Songs of the Humpback

Recorded accidentally by the Navy during the Cold War, "Songs of the Humpback Whale" became a hit album that changed perceptions about the natural world.
by Alaina Claire Feldman via E-Flux on May 1, 2021

Sea Shanties and the Whale Oil Myth

Oil companies like to point to the demise of the whaling industry as an example of market-based energy solutions. The reality is much more complicated.
by Kate Aronoff via The New Republic on January 22, 2021
Whale illustrations.

The Art of Whaling: Illustrations from the Logbooks of Nantucket Whaleships

The 19th-century whale hunt was a brutal business. But between the frantic calls of “there she blows!”, there was plenty of time for creation too.
by Jessica Boyall via The Public Domain Review on January 13, 2021

Buffalo’s Vanished Maritime Past

The city was once a bustling and infamous Great Lakes port. How should it be remembered?
by Jeff Z. Klein via Belt Magazine on July 9, 2020

‘A Doubtful Freedom’

Andrew Delbanco's new book positions the debate over fugitive slaves as a central factor in the nation's slide toward disunion.
by David W. Blight via New York Review of Books on January 14, 2020

Whitman, Melville, & Julia Ward Howe: A Tale of Three Bicentennials

The difference between the careers and reputations of the three famous authors is about gender as well as genius.
by Elaine Showalter via New York Review of Books on May 27, 2019

The Short, Sad Story of Stanwix Melville

Piecing back together the forgotten history of Herman Melville's second son.
by Christopher Benfey via New York Review of Books on October 30, 2017
A photograph of the New Bedford whaleship Plantina.

The American Whaling Industry

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.
by Kerry Dunne via Digital Public Library of America on September 19, 2017
Prince Wichaichan, also known as Prince George Washington

George Washington at the Siamese Court

Ross Bullen explores the curious case of Prince George Washington, a 19th-century Siamese prince.
by Ross Bullen via The Public Domain Review on April 21, 2016

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