An Essay Upon Projects

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IndyPublish.com, 2002 - Business & Economics - 140 pages
Defoe began working on the series of radical proposals to improve England in about 1692 when he had just gotten out of prison and was hiding from authorities and creditors; by the time he had finished and published them in 1697, he had also righted himself publicly and financially. The collection represents new beginnings for him as a political and literary figure, new assertions of principles, new ventures on public terrain. It also is solidly within the tradition of the flurry of similar proposals and prophecies published, usually as pamphlets, during that decade. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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About the author (2002)

Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe in London, England on September 13, 1660. He changed his surname in 1703, adding the more genteel "De" before his own name to suggest a higher social standing. He was a novelist, journalist, and political agent. His writings covered a wide range of topics. His novels include Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana, Captain Singleton, and Colonel Jack. He wrote A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, which is an important source of English economic life, and ghost stories including A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal. He also wrote satirical poems and pamphlets and edited a newspaper. He was imprisoned and pilloried for his controversial work, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which suggested that all non-Conformist ministers be hanged. He died on April 24, 1731.

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