Billy Budd is among the greatest of Melville's works and, in its richness and ambiguity, among the most problematic. Outwardly a compelling narrative of events aboard a British man-of-war during the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars, Billy Budd, Sailor is a nautical recasting of the Fall, a parable of good and evil, a meditation on justice and political governance, and a searching portrait of three extraordinary men. In this edition are also eight shorter tales, reprinted from the most authoritative recent editions and are supplemented by a penetrating introduction and full notes.

Contents:
1. Bartleby, the Scrivener
2. Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!
3. The Fiddler
4. The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids
5. The Lightning-Rod Man
6. The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles
7. Benito Cereno
8. I and My Chimney
9. Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)