In this iconoclastic and sure to be contentious recasting by a renowned critic the great American novel Moby Dickamp160is presented as a work that has been widely misread an error that continues to this day. According to Barry Sanders Herman Melvilles best known work is not a novel does not pretend to be a novel and was not intended by its author to be read as a novel.amp160Moby Dickamp160is this countryamp8217s first manifesto a tocsin sounded to warn us about the encroaching end of nature.amp160amp160amp10The Manifesto of Herman Melvilleamp160traces the evolution ofamp160Moby Dickfrom its awful initial reception very rapidly passing out of print to its remarkable revival to become lauded as one of Americaamp8217s great literary classics.amp160 That turnaround happened in the early decades of the 20th century and was in great part the result of the new and radical aesthetic movements such as surrealism dadaism and cubism that allowed for a radical reading of the book.amp160The novelamp8217s new standing as one of the keystones of the American cannon disguises its deeper meaning as an alarm bell an obscuring which Barry Sanders in a critical assessment that is as persuasive as it is provocative seeks to clear away.amp10Sanders argues that Moby Dick needs to be recognized as Melvilles manifesto a bold statement warning of the destruction of the natural world made most evident in the bookamp8217s central metaphor the relentless pursuit to kill the whale the first sentient being in Genesis and one of the most startling mammalsamp8212possessed of hair and scales a tail and breastsamp8212and the largest of the creatures on earth weighing up to 400000 pounds.amp10Whalers in Melvilleamp8217s day hunted down and killed these extraordinary behemoths of nature for their oil sold to people for cooking and to light their homes. Today the pursuit for energy has shifted dramatically from sea to land amp160but the prize remains the same amp160energy producing fuel for which entrep