Israel Potter

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The authoritative edition of Melvilleas only historical novel

Based on the life of an actual soldier who claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill, Israel Potter is unique among Herman Melvilleas books: a novel in the guise of a biography. In telling the story of Israel Potteras fall from Revolutionary War hero to peddler on the streets of London, where he obtained a livelihood by crying aOld Chairs to Mend, a Melville alternated between invented scenes and historical episodes, granting cameos to such famous men of the era as Benjamin Franklin (Potter may have been his secret courier) and John Paul Jones, and providing a portrait of the American Revolution as the rollicking adventure and violent series of events that it really was.

This edition of Israel Potter, which reproduces the definitive text, includes selections from Potteras autobiography, Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter, the basis for Melvilleas novel.