For me, 'Moby-Dick' is more than the greatest American novel ever written; it is a metaphysical survival manual - the best guidebook there is for a literate man or woman facing an impenetrable unknown: the future of civilization in this… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
Many of us came away from our youth thinking that the story of the Revolution was that the Americans were patriots fighting the oppressive British. It was kind of good versus evil, liberty versus tyranny. When you get into it,… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
In the years to come, the combination of climate change and population growth could have a devastating effect on the planet and, needless to… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“A Puritan believed it was necessary to venture back to the absolute beginning of Christianity, before the church had been corrupted by centuries of… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
People think I live here on Nantucket and just gaze at the ocean, getting my inspiration. Not so. I work in my basement and… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“No matter how much the inhabitants might try to hide it, there was a savagery about this island, a bloodlust and pride that bound… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“Living in the here and now, we are awash with sensations of the present, memories of the past, and expectations and fears for the… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“In a letter hastily written to a friend in London, Cushman saw only doom and disaster ahead. “Friend, if ever we make a plantation… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
If you live on Nantucket, you can't avoid its history, and 'Moby Dick' is the way most of us get into Nantucket's history. — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
As an author of narrative history, I read a lot of history books. — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“Odd things happen in a battle, and the human heart has strange and gruesome depths and the human brain still stranger shallows;” — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“The sperm whales' network of female-based family unit resembled, to a remarkable extent, the community the whalemen had left back home on Nantucket. In… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
Instead of being a page-turner, 'Moby-Dick' is a repository of American history and culture and the essentials of Western literature. The book is so… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
“Melville's example demonstrates the wisdom of waiting to read the classics. Coming to a great book on your own after having accumulated essential life… — Nathaniel Philbrick Copy Share Image
