The Political History of the Devil

"The History of the Devil" redirects here. For the 1996 book, see A History of the Devil.

The Political History of the Devil

Author	Daniel Defoe
Language	English
Publication date	1726
Publication place	United Kingdom

The Political History of the Devil is a 1726 book by Daniel Defoe. ^[1]

General scholarly opinion is that Defoe really did think of the Devil as a participant in world history. He spends some time discussing John Milton's Paradise Lost and explaining why he considers it inaccurate.

His view is that of an 18th-century Presbyterian – he blames the Devil for the Crusades and sees him as close to Europe's Catholic powers. The book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. ^[2]

Trivia

The book is listed as one belonging to Mr. Tulliver and read by his daughter Maggie in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss . ^[3]

See also

• De Betoverde Weereld

References

1. McInelly, Brett (Autumn 2006). The Political History of the Devil. Textual Cultures, 1(2): 175–177.(subscription required)
2. "BFE – Censored publications – Search result". Archived from the original on 13 July 2016.
3. The Mill on the Floss: Book one chapter 3; Mr Riley Gives his Advice

Further reading

• Baine, Rodney M. (1962). Daniel Defoe and "The History and Reality of Apparitions". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(4): 335–347. (subscription required)
• Hudson, Nicholas (1988). 'Why God no Kill the Devil?' The Diabolical Disruption of Order in Robinson Crusoe. The Review of English Studies, 39(156): 494–501. (subscription required)

External links

• Online at Archive.org
• The History of the Devil public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Literary Encyclopedia entry