In this ambitious and engaging work, Samuel Postell grapples with the greatness that is Melville's Moby-Dick - as allegory, adventure story, American tragedy, and American comedy. Particularly sensitive to the political dimension of the novel, American Epic will be of particular interest to students of American literature and political philosophy.

Robert C. Bartlett, Boston College, USA

Postell's American Epic, an outstanding examination of Melville's critical thought on American democracy through Emerson and Nietzsche, does justice to Melville's defense of democracy against totalizing thought. Postell's reading of Ahab as geared toward vengeance and destruction of rational government and of Ishmael as a defender of wonder and community showcases his power as a superb reader.

Bainard Cowan, University of Dallas, USA

Few American novels match the ambition of Melville's Moby Dick, with its interrogation of commerce, democracy, ruling, nature, providence and the limits of human knowledge. Postell's American Epic boldly proclaims that Melville wrote in the tradition of Homer, producing memorable and powerful characters and offering a meditation on political power and impiety as compelling as one would find in ancient epics.

Gregory A. McBrayer, Ashland University, USA