Book Review
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
First published in 1856. This Dover Publications Edition published in 1990.

American Amasa Delano, captain of a trading ship and moored off the coast of Chile, sees a distressed ship approaching the harbor. But something is amiss: it carries no flags, its captain Benito Cereno seems physically and mentally unstable, and the crew and passengers act strange and disorderly. What really happened during the treacherous passage around Cape Horn?

Melville published this book just a few years before the Civil War; therefore, slavery was a hot topic in America then. Most of the cargo on the Cereno's ship, the San Dominick, were slaves, but the American captain is surprised to find that they have relative freedom on board. And how is that the Spaniard's steward and confidant is a Negro? Something is much amiss, the American captain figures.

Benito Cereno is a mystery novel of the first rate and it touches upon the moral and political issues of Melville's day. Contrary to what some readers think, the novel promotes abolishing slavery, as a shrewd analysis of the events will show at the end of the book...