On April Fool's Day in 1856, a shape-shifting grifter boards a Mississippi riverboat to expose the pretenses, hypocrisies, and self-delusions of his fellow passengers. Melville's comic allegory addresses themes of sincerity, identity, and morality in its challenge to the optimism and materialism of mid-nineteenth-century America. Misunderstood by the author's contemporaries, the novel is praised today for its stunningly modern techniques.