The gospels in this century -- Landlessness -- Desperado philosophy -- Nantucket -- Chowder -- The Pequod -- Ahab -- The anatomy of a demagogue -- Hawthorne -- The view from the masthead -- The sea -- Is there a heaven? -- A mighty, messy book -- Unflinching reality -- Poetry -- Sharks -- The enchanted calm -- Pip -- The squeeze -- The left wing -- So remorseless a havoc -- Queequeg -- Pulling dictatorship out of a hat -- Essex redux -- The inmost leaf -- Ahab's last stand -- Evil art -- Neither believer nor infidel

Shares expert guidelines on how to read and appreciate Herman Melville's classic work, offering insight into its history, characters, and themes while explaining its literary relevance in the modern world