Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was an English novelist, journalist, merchant, and political writer whose career ranged across fiction, reportage, pamphleteering, and economic commentary. He is best known for *Robinson Crusoe* (1719), but his major works also include *Moll Flanders* and *A Journal of the Plague Year*. In his lifetime, Defoe was widely recognized not only as a novelist but also as a prolific journalist and political agent.