Herman Melville (born Melvill because his mother added an "e" after Melville's
father's death) was born on August 1, 1819 in New York, NY. He was a teacher,
custom's agent, sailor, short-story writer, and novelist. He wrote at least ten books.
Moby Dick was first published in 1851. It is a story written from the perspective of
Ishmael, a sailor on the whaling ship Pequod. The captain of the ship, Ahab, is
searching for a great white whale that bit off his leg at the knee on an earlier
voyage. When the book was first available, it was not favorably received and
did not sell well. However, today, it is considered a "Great American Novel"
and is on many high school reading lists. Wikipedia writes that "D.H. Lawrence
called it 'one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world' and 'the
greatest book of the sea ever written.' Its opening sentence, 'Call me Ishmael',
is among world literature's most famous."