Novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period, Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born into a prosperous business family in New York City. When the business failed, he had to leave school and go to work doing many odd jobs before signing up on a sea-going vessel. All his strange and extraordinary experiences during sea voyages found their way into the books and stories he wrote. Typee (1846), Moby Dick (1851), and the posthumous Billy Budd, Sailor are among his most notable works.