"Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. With His Vision of the Angelick World". Daniel Defoe was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He wrote many political tracts and often was in trouble with the authorities, including prison time. The third book about Robinson Crousoe is a collection of Daniel Defoe's essays on moral topics. The name of Crusoe used to spur the public's interest in this work.