Stories of ill-fated ships and their legendary captains have long pervaded human culture, both high-brow and popular: Think Richard Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman, or the Disney concoctions The Black Pearl and Captain Sparrow. But arguably none are more iconic than the Pequod and its Captain Ahab, the grimly obsessed whaleman chasing his white whale. Herman Melville's Moby Dick is many things - a portable whaling museum, a pitting of man against nature, and a symbolically rich tale by a literary master. Moreover, readers can understand the Pequod as Melville's America in microcosm, a political and cultural conceit that offers continued relevance today. The legacy of this great American novel is enduring and vast, including the long-lived symbolism of the white whale and even the ubiquitous coffee chain Starbucks, named after Ahab's first mate.This summary of Moby Dick was produced by getAbstract, the world's largest provider of book summaries. getAbstract works with hundreds of the best publishers to find and summarize the most relevant content out there. Find out more at getabstract.com.