Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) was an English writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and trader. Born in London as the son of a butcher, he was initially intended for the clergy but chose a career in business, which was marked by financial failures. Defoe wrote political and religious works and published, among other periodicals, The Review. In 1703, a satirical pamphlet criticizing religious intolerance led to his being pilloried and imprisoned. He published his first novel, Robinson Crusoe, in 1719, late in life; it made him famous and became his best-known work. His other notable novels include Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana (1724). Defoe died in London in 1731.