MELVILLE IN LOVE

A new account of Herman Melville and the writing of Moby Dick, written by the Pulitzer Prize finalist in Biography, Michael Shelden. Based on fresh archival research, it reveals that the anarchic spirit animating Melville’s canonical work was inspired by his great love affair with a shockingly unconventional married woman.

Michael Shelden is Professor of English at Indiana State University and the author of six biographies, including Melville in Love (2016) and Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill (2013), which has been translated into Russian, Chinese and Portuguese. Professor Shelden’s book Orwell: The Authorized Biography was a New York Times “Notable Book” and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His book Mark Twain: Man in White, a New York Times Bestseller, was chosen as one of the best books of 2010 by the Library Journal and was named one of the best nonfiction books of 2010 by the Christian Science Monitor. For 12 years, Professor Sheldon was a features writer for The Daily Telegraph in London. His many scholarly articles and reviews have included publications in the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare Quarterly, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Victorian Studies and the Journal of British Studies.