In 1843, after three years of voyaging in the South Seas, Melville signedup as an ordinary seaman on the man-of-war United States, and headed for home.What he observed on that trip formed the basis of White-Jacket, a success bothas a story and as an expose of certain naval practices of which the public wasonly dimly aware.Melville's subtitle, 'The World in a Man-of-War', points to its broad theme:the autocratic, male regime aboard the Neversink is perhaps no more than amicrocosm of pre-Civil War America. But under his scandalized liberalism, hisdesire to expose and to reform a barbaric system which reflects badly on theDeclaration of Independence, runs an unspoken connection. The treatment metedout to the white men on the man-of-war is the same as that experienced by blackslaves in every state. With hindsight, Melville's novel is double-edged. This isthe only paperback edition currently available.