Billy Budd, Sailor

"Cheerful, hardwork, and handsome, Billy is pressed into naval service aboard a British ship during the Napoleonic wars. The innocent and loveable young man quickly wins the hearts of all his comrades, save one: Claggart, the implacably bitter master-at-arms, who falsely accuses Billy of inciting a mutiny. Rich in the ambiguities, Herman Mellville's haunting parable of the clash between good and evil raises thought-provoking issues related to the conflict between the requirements of the law and the needs of humanity." -- cover.