Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by the American writer Herman Melville. First published in 1851 during the American Renaissance period. Sailor Ishmael tells the story of the dangerous expedition of Ahab, captain of the whaler the Pequod, for revenge on the Whale Moby Dick, the white whale that on a previous whaling hunting voyage destroyed his ship and severed his leg at the knee. In the 20th century, the novel did grow a reputation as a Great American Novel. Famous people highly commented of this work, William Faulkner confessed he wished he had written it himself and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world", and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". "Call me Ishmael" is among world literature's most famous opening sentences.