The Exceptionalist State and the State of Exception: Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor

by William V. Spanos

Critics predominantly view Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor as a "testament of acceptance," the work of a man who had become politically conservative in his last years. William V. Spanos disagrees, arguing that the novella was not only a politically radical critique of American exceptionalism but also an eerie preview of the state of exception employed, most recently, by the George W. Bush administration in the post-9/11 War on Terror...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801898498
• ISBN13: 9780801898495
• Release Date: February 2011
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.1"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher