Aboard the warship Bellipotent, the young orphan Billy Budd was called the handsome sailor. Billy was tall, athletic, noble-looking; he was friendly, innocent, helpful, and cheerful. He was a fierce fighter and a loyal friend. All the men and officers liked him.
All but one: Master-at-Arms Claggart. Envious, petty Claggart plotted to make Billy’s life miserable. But when a fear of mutinies swept through the fleet, Claggart realized he could do more than just torment the handsome sailor … he could frame Billy Budd for treason.
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"I like this collection of short stories a lot better than "Moby Dick" because there wasn't enough room for chapter-long descriptions of boats, rigging and the various parts of a ship that were horrible to wade through and were completely over my head. The way he writes makes it hard to read at a comfortable pace and I had to re-read paragraphs in order to fully understand what was going on. It's not a light, easy read.. makes you think and has a lot of underlying meaning on each page.. but a very good read."
— Anna (4 out of 5 stars)
" In high school, we read this in lieu of Moby Dick because it was shorter. Hang it all, there's apparently more than meets the aye-yi (sir), but it was lost on us! "
— Newengland, 2/20/2014" I'm pretty sure I'd fight Melville if he was alive today. Or at least give him a wedgie. Yeah. "
— Evan, 2/18/2014" Bartlby, one of the best ever. "
— Matthew, 2/16/2014" I think that I was one of the only students in my high school American Lit. class that liked Billy Budd. It's actually my favorite Melville story. It's just packed full of injustice and bravery in the face of unbeatable odds. Just the kind of thing that can really hit that nerve that teenagers have that makes them acutely aware of injustice and persecution. Reading Melville is no cakewalk, and I would never claim that he's one of my favorite authors. But I did like Billy Budd. "
— Amy, 2/9/2014" A classic read in high school "
— Stephen, 2/9/2014" I liked this book more than I liked Moby Dick which I started years ago but haven't finished. "
— Andrew, 2/6/2014" Good vs. Evil plain and simple. My prep school drama club did this one. Good job too. No, I was not in that club. Just the audience. Date read is a guess. "
— Chris, 2/4/2014" Not an easy read as far as language, but my first Melville story. Quite an activist was he. "
— Shannon, 2/4/2014" I learned more from the movie with Terence Stamp and Robert Ryan. "
— John, 2/3/2014" It's so confusing and hard to understand! "
— L.R., 1/31/2014" The one book that I read in high school and never ever liked. "
— Lynne, 1/29/2014Herman Melville (1819–1891) was born in New York City. Family hardships forced him to leave school for various occupations, including shipping as a cabin boy to Liverpool in 1839—a voyage that sparked his love for the sea. A shrewd social critic and philosopher in his fiction, he is considered an outstanding writer of the sea and a great stylist who mastered both realistic narrative and a rich, rhythmical prose. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumously published novella Billy Budd.
Christopher Timothy starred as James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small, the internationally renowned BBC television series based on Herriot’s work. A veteran of stage, screen, and television, Timothy is a winner of the prestigious Sir John Gielgud Scholarship and the Sir Laurence Olivier Award. He also coproduced and starred in a critically acclaimed film version of James Herriot’s Yorkshire.