White LiesThe narrative of factsprobably best exemplified in the literature of explorationwas an immensely popular genre in mid nineteenth century America. In White Lies, John Samson offers full contextual readings of Melville's five major narratives of factsTypee, Omoo, Redburn, White Jacket, and Israel Potter. Samson demonstrates that in these novels Melville critically rewrote the sources on which he drew, in effect making the genre itself a subject of his