wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Herman Melville wrote one of the most important American novels of all time: Moby-Dick. But he wasn't recognized as a towering literary figure until 40 years after his death. Andrew Delbanco, the Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, studies Melville's life and works in a new biography.

» Read an excerpt of Melville: His World and Work in the Reading Room

Music: “Passage to Paradise,” “Crossroads for the World” and “Sea and Sky” from Sea Power: A Global Journey, an original score composed by Michael Whalen