NPR: Was Captain Ahab Ahead of His Time?: “Is it possible? Could Ahab — the peg-legged ship’s captain who leads that ill-fated quest for the great white whale in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick — have been misunderstood.

To most, especially those who know him only from John Huston’s film, Ahab is a petty dictator, tyrant of a tiny seaborne fiefdom, a monomaniac dedicated only to killing the whale that mauled him. Ultimately, he’s a mass murderer who drags dozens of sailors to Davy Jones’ Locker.

But under that exterior madness, some see a man of surprising talents”