Billy Budd by Herman Melville

This month we start with Mike Burns’ choice for the high school book he hated, the not subtly homoerotic Billy Budd by Herman Melville. 

“Billy Budd, Sailor has been called the best short novel ever written. In his brilliantly condensed prose, Herman Melville fashions a legal parable in which reason and intellect prove incapable of preserving innocence in the face of evil. For all those who feel themselves threatened by a hostile and inflexible environment, there is special significance in this haunting story of a handsome sailor who becomes a victim of man’s intransigence.” From the back cover of the Enriched Classics Edition. 

How will Billy Budd hold up?

Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann

Co-Host: Mike Burns and Mike Carroll