Herman Melville 
Moby Dick; Or, The Whale 

An exhilarating whaling yarn, an apocalyptic theodicy, a tragic confessional, and a profound allegory,
Moby Dick encompasses all that it means to be human—from the physical and metaphysical to the spiritual and emotional. Full of strange wisdom and wild digressive energy, it’s a singular literary performance universally regarded as one of the great American novels.