The History of the Devil is a classic historical and religious book universally considered one of Daniel Defoe’s greatest works of non-fiction. The book was first published in 1726 and made an immediate impact on English literature, society and the ecclesiastical community in the early 18th century and continues to enrich humanity as a faithful source of historical and biblical truth and wisdom. The History of the Devil cleverly unfolds the actions, devices, and evil nature of Satan and his host of devils against God and mankind throughout the history of the world. Defoe divides the book into two parts: Ancient, or the time from before the creation of the universe to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ; and Modern, or from the time of Christ and establishment of the Christian Church to the present day. His style is one that uniquely blends serious biblical principles and history with lighter satirical narrative, especially when dealing with mankind’s many false presuppositions about the Devil, and clearly delineates when each, or both, is applicable to the subject of discussion.

The Political History of the Devil is a philosophical and historical work in which Defoe explores the role of the Devil in the history of civilization. It may be said that his view on this topic is that of an 18th-century Presbyterian – he blames the Devil for the Crusades and sees him as close to Europe's Catholic powers. General scholarly opinion is that Defoe really did think of the Devil as a participant in world history. He spends some time discussing Milton's Paradise Lost and explaining why he considers it inaccurate. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy, most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is noted for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularize the form in Britain with others such as Samuel Richardson, and is among the founders of the English novel. He was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than five hundred books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural.

Born to a petty thief in London’s notorious Newgate prison and determined to make her way in a rapacious and materialistic society, Moll Flanders recounts the “fortunes and misfortunes” of her turbulent life in this 1722 novel. Though Moll Flanders was shaped by the conventions of criminal biography, Defoe also drew on other literary traditions and his own rich background to create a remarkably original—and still controversial—work. In addition to a critical introduction and substantial footnotes, this Broadview edition provides a wide range of writings by Defoe as well as contemporary responses to Moll Flanders. Other appendices include a selection of eighteenth-century writings on crime, prisons, and the Virginia colony.

Henry Crabb Robinson (1775-1867) earned his place in literary history as a perceptive diarist from 1811 onwards. Drawing substantially on hitherto unpublished manuscript sources, this book discusses his formal and informal engagement with a wide variety of English and European literature prior to this point. Robinson emerges as a pioneering literary critic whose unique philosophical erudition underpinned his activity as a cross-cultural disseminator of literature during the early Romantic period. A Dissenter barred from the English universities, Robinson educated himself thoroughly during his teenage years and began to publish in radical journals. Godwin's philosophy subsequently inspired his first theory of literature. When in Germany from 1800 to 1805, he became the leading British scholar of Kant, whose philosophy informed his discussions of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, and August Wilhelm Schlegel. After his return to London, Robinson aided Hazlitt's understanding of Kant and, thus, Hazlitt's early career as a writer. His distinctive comparative criticism further enabled him to draw compelling parallels between Wordsworth, Blake, and Herder, and to discern 'moral excellence' in Christian Leberecht Heyne's Amathonte. This also prompted Robinson's transmission of Friedrich Schlegel and Jean Paul in 1811, as well as a profound exchange of ideas with Coleridge. In this new study, Philipp Hunnekuhl finds that Robinson's ingenious adaptation of Kantian aesthetic autonomy into a revolutionary theory of literature's moral relevance anticipated the current 'ethical turn' in literary studies.