Just the Best Literature

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss one of the most unique chapters in Moby Dick. Melville uses the gold doubloon as a mirror into Ahab’s soul and the souls of some of the crew. You’ll want to hear this one.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss the the sad mishap of Pip, Ahab’s cabin boy. Stubb recruits Pip to be an oarsman on his whaling canoe. At his first lowering, Pip is frightened by a whale and jumps out of the boat. Stubb tells Pip to never jump out of the boat or he’ll abandon him at sea. Pip jumps again. In the drama of catching a whale, Pip is left to drift on the ocean alone. When recovered, Pip appears to have gone mad. However, Ishmael see Pip’s experience differently.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Mr. Grant Turgeon discuss Chapter 81 of Herman Melville’s American classic Moby Dick. The whale ship called the Virgin is actually a German whaler known as the Jungfrau in the German language. The Jungfrau is anxious to gam (or meet up) with the Pequod because they have no oil. They are not a successful whaler. The captain of the Virgin brings a lamp feeder on board to borrow some oil from the Pequod. All of the ship’s lamps are dry of oil, making it difficult to manage the ship at night. Ahab is immediately impatient with the visiting captain because of the language barrier. Also, this captain knows nothing about Moby Dick. Ahab supplies the oil reluctantly. As the German captain returns to his ship with oil, eight whales are seen in the distance and the ships race to capture the whales. Ahab’s men easily beat the Germans to the one whale in the pod that is captured.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Mr. Grant Turgeon discuss Chapter 71 of Herman Melville’s American classic Moby Dick. Captain Ahab signals another Nantucket whale ship named the Jeroboam to have a meeting to gain information on Moby Dick. The Jeroboam’s Captain Mayhew was fearful to join up with the Pequod because there was a malignant epidemic on board. Onboard the Jeroboam was an insane sailor who believed he was the archangel Gabriel. From a distance between the ships, Gabriel warns Ahab not to pursue Moby Dick because it would lead to his death. Ahab, like the ancient Israelite King Jeroboam, ignores the warning of a prophet.

Host Dennis Leap discusses several key leadership lessons from the life of George Washington.

Host Dennis Leap with Deborah Leap discuss the final years of the Washingtons’ productive lives.

Host Dennis Leap and 60-plus panel member Deborah Leap discuss the problems George Washington faced with cabinet members’ desiring to establish a two-party system for America.

Host Dennis Leap and 60-plus panel member Deborah Leap discuss Mrs. Barbara Bush, as well as George and Martha Washington’s lives as first president and first lady.

Host Dennis Leap and 60-plus panel member Deborah Leap discuss the funeral of George Herbert Walker Bush, followed by a discussion of George and Martha Washington’s support of the troops during America’s war with Britain.