Herman Melville's oeuvre sustains a fundamental tension among self, society, and others. Sacred Uncertainty explores religious difference that arises from these many voices, both within American culture and around the world. Melville's work is notably shot through with allusions to other writers and thinkers, whom he regarded as his truest interlocutors. Yothers examines Melville's marginalia for clues to Melville's thinking about self, others, and difference.