Herman Melville's vast novel about Captain Ahab and his crew's pursuit of the great white whale was published 150 years ago. The book invites a range of interpretations: is it an epic tragedy of good against evil, an eco-thriller, a parable for fallen humanity or a handbook for whale enthusiasts? Jeremy Harding travels to New Bedford, Nantucket, and to Cape Cod to explore how Moby Dick remains both a fast fish and a loose fish, owned by all who pursue it but forever free. With contributions from critics and scholars, musicians and cooks, poets and writers, Melville impersonators and whaling historians, including Laurie Anderson, Lawrence Buell, Gail Coffler, Lee Heald, Nathaniel Philbrick, Clare Spark and the crew of the Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch.