{"product_id":"9780141974385","title":"The Confidence-Man and Billy Budd, Sailor","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith an essay by Daniel G. Hoffmann.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Life is a pic-nic \u003ci\u003een costume\u003c\/i\u003e; one must take a part, assume a character, stand ready in a sensible way to play the fool'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Confidence-Man\u003c\/i\u003e, Melville's unnerving and hallucinatory satire on the American dream, a slippery trickster and master of disguise comes to swindle his fellow passengers - who themselves may also be con-men - aboard a Mississippi steamboat.    \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBilly Budd, Sailor\u003c\/i\u003e, published after Melville's death in 1891, is a gripping allegory of good and evil, as an innocent man, pressed into service on a British man-of-war, is falsely accused of mutiny. Both these late works are animated with the dark genius of the greatest of American writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47108783702256,"sku":"9780141974385","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780141974385_p0.jpg?v=1763656399","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780141974385","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}