"An excellent introduction to the life and work of Herman Melville: well-written, well-presented, and often captivatingly told."
— Leviathan
"Expertly and fluidly written by Hayes, Herman Melville succinctly encapsulates the life, works, and personality of a relatively elusive figure. Considering the space allotted to him, Hayes superbly dovetails Melville’s major life events with his fiction and poetry, enriching the biographical narrative with historical contexts, cultural connections, illustrations, critical quotations, and previously unknown materials. . . . Hayes’s volume is a focused and well-contextualized portrait of Melville, as well as an ideal entryway to larger biographical studies. . . . Even the hardened, seen-it-all Melville scholar is likely to learn something new from Herman Melville."
— American Literary Scholarship