1. By Martin Anderson And Logan Hinderliter

3.  Born to James and Alice Foe of London in 1660  James Foe was a butcher.  The Foes were dissenting Protestants, Protestants that didn’t belong to the Church of England.  Defoe studied at Charles Morton's Academy in London.  His father wanted him to become a minister.  He gave up this dream and went into business.

4.  Defoe married Mary Tuffley in 1684.  He was possibly a merchant in Spain from 1678 to 1683.  Defoe was part of the Duke of Monmouth’s failed rebellion against King James II, a Catholic king.  In 1692, Defoe declares bankruptcy after going to debtors prison.

5.  Defoe began writing anonymously in the 1680s.  He mostly wrote political essays.  Defoe’s first success came in the form of a satire, ‘The True-Born Englishman’ in 1701.  Defoe was imprisoned in 1703 for his satire, “The Shortest Way with Dissenters”, an essay in which he uses an ironic voice to depict a religious zealot intent on eradicating dissenters.

6.  Defoe was released from prison because of his talent as a writer. He agreed to write propaganda for Robert Harley, a member of parliament.  He also became an intelligence agent, a line of work that he continued after the Tories fell from power and the Whigs rose.  He continued to write essays while he published The Review from 1704 to 1713.  He changed his name from Foe to Defoe in 1703.

7.  Defoe became on of England’s most important early novelists when he moved away from essays and published Robinson Crusoe in 1719.  Defoe wrote many novels in the same format as Robinson Crusoe in the five years after it was published.

8.  Defoe’s life experiences influenced his novel, Robinson Crusoe.  Crusoe lives by his religion, and by rational thought.  He does what is practical, he gathers food and creates a shelter.  He also takes in Friday, a cannibal, who he reasons, only eats other people because he doesn’t know any better.  Crusoe, with his progressive views, didn’t condemn Friday as a savage. Instead, he takes him in and teaches him Christian values.  These traits were present in Defoe as well, he was religious and progressive.

9.  1720 – Memoirs of a Cavalier  1722 – Journal of the Plague Year  1722 – Moll Flanders  1724 – Roxana  These were mostly first person accounts from extraordinary people.  1724-1727 - Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain  This was an economic survey of England and Scotland.

10.  Defoe continued his intelligence career while he wrote.  Defoe abandoned his home and family in 1729 to disappear into London.  Defoe died on April 26, 1731.  He had written over 400 pamphlets and books.

11.  "Defoe, Daniel." British Authors Before 1800. 1952. Biography Reference Bank. H. W. Wilson. MASH Media Center, Meadville, PA. 27 May 2009 <http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/.  "Defoe, Daniel." Encyclopedia of British Writers, 18th Century. 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File. MASH Media Center. 27 May 2009.  Liukkonen, Petri. "Daniel Defoe." Books and Writers. 2008. Net Trekker. MASH Media Center. 27 May 2009.