This acclaimed series offers informative and durable biographies of important authors,British, European and North American, which will include substantial critical discussion of their works. An underlying objective is to re-establish the notion that books are written by people who lived in particular times and places.

The Life of Daniel Defoe examines the entire range of Defoe's writing in the context of what is known about his life and opinions. The book provides a commentary on most of his voluminous political, religious, moral, and economic journalism, as well as on all of his narrative fictions. All these works are situated in the precise historical circumstances of the eighteenth century in which Defoe was an important and active participant. The biography focuses on Defoe's life and mind as it appears in his writing, and emphasizes his distinctive style and rhetoric.

Acknowledgments

1 Dissenter, Merchant, Speculator, Writer

2 Early Writings 1697-1703: Projects, Dissent, Poems

3 Political Journalism: 1697-1710

4 Political Agent and Journalist: Queen Anne to the Hanoverians

5 Moral, Social, and Economic Writings 1714-31

6 Robinson Crusoe

7 Travel, Politics, and Adventure  

8 Crime and Narrative

9 Roxana: A Novel of Crime and Punishment

10 History, Facts, and Literature

11 Political Journalist and Moral Censor: 1715-31

Notes

Bibliography

Index