Herman Melville's short stories, somewhat neglected during his lifetime, today are considered to be among the small masterpieces of American fiction.

His imagination is inventive, ironic, and extraordinarily attuned to our times. His settings and themes are various: the limits of artistic creation; the opposition of innocence and evil; fear of isolation; the inviolate sanctity of the human heart; the fearfulness of and fascination with the "enchanted isles"; the ferocity of the white whale; Calvinist hell-fire and damnation.

Melville's stories, like his great novel Moby-Dick, are unique in narrative method, profound in theme, and full of delights at all levels. This collection includes not only Billy Budd (in a reading text based on the famous Harvard edition), but also all of The Piazza Tales, as well as "the Town-Ho's Story" from Moby-Dick.

Contains:
| Billy Budd |
| The piazza |
| Bartleby |
| Benito Cereno |
| The lightning-rod man |
| The Encantadas, or, Enchanted Isles |
| The bell-tower |
| The town-ho's story from Moby Dick. |