MelvilleBy: Andrew Delbanco Herman Melville was born into a family that in the fledgling republic had lost both money and status. Toughened at sea as a young man, he returned home to chronicle the deepest crises of his time while forever shaping our literature with Moby Dick, Bartleby, the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd. Delbanco traces Melvilles growth from the bawdy storytelling of Typee through the spiritual preoccupations building up to Moby