As many readers know, Moby-Dick was inspired by the …

As many readers know, Moby-Dick was inspired by the shipwreck of the whaling ship Essex in 1820. As David O. Dowling discusses in Surviving the Essex, the wreck of the Essex was an early example of prurient tabloid scandal, capturing the imagination of readers eager, then as now, for stories of heroism and villainy in the face of moral dilemmas.