Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The True-Born Englishman and Other Writings | 1997 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 2 | An Essay on the Original of Literature | 2007 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 3 | And What if the Pretender Should Come? Or, some considerations of the advantages and real consequences of the Pretender’s possessing the crown of Great-Britain. | 2010 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 4 | An essay upon loans | 2010 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 5 | The Defection Farther Consider’d | 2010 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 6 | The Poor Man’s Plea in Relation to All the Proclamations, Declarations, Acts of Parliament, &, Which Have Been, or Shall Be Made, or Publish’d, for a Reformation of Manners, and Suppressing Immorality in the Nations. | 2011 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 7 | The Evident Advantages to Great Britain and Its Allies from the Approaching War | 2012 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 8 | A Collection of the Writings of the Author of the True-Born English-Man | 2013 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 9 | The History of the Union Between England and Scotland | 2015 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 10 | Mere Nature Delineated | 2015 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 11 | The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations | 2015 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 12 | Faults on Both Sides, Or, an Essay Upon the Original Cause Progress and Mischievous Consequences of the Factions in This Nation | 2015 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 13 | An Essay at Removing National Prejudices Against a Union with Scotland. to Be Continued During the Treaty Here | 2016 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 14 | The History of the Kentish Petition | 2016 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 15 | The True-Born Englishman | 2017 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 16 | An Apology for the Army in a Short Essay on Fortitude, &C | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 17 | Memoirs of the Honourable Col. Andrew Newport | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 18 | The Villainy of Stock-Jobbers Detected, and the Causes of the Late Run Upon the Bank and Bankers Discovered and Considered | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 19 | Reflections Upon a Late Scandalous and Malicious Pamphlet Entitul’d, the Shortest Way with the Dissenters, or Proposals for the Establishment of the Church | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 20 | Vindication of the Honour and Justice of His Majesty’s Government | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 21 | The Shortest Way with the Dissenters | 2018 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 22 | An Account of the Proceedings Against the Rebels, and Other Prisoners, Tried Before the Lord Chief Justice Jefferies, and Other Judges, in the West of England, in 1685, for Taking Arms Under the Duke of Monmouth | 2019 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 23 | An Essay upon Projects | 1697 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 24 | An Essay On The History And Reality Of Apparitions | 1727 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 25 | Conjugal Lewdness, or Matrimonial Whoredom | 1727 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 26 | Augusta Triumphans | 1728 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
| 27 | A Letter to the Dissenters | 1731 | Daniel Defoe | Buy |
Defoe was a tireless pamphleteer who weighed in on nearly every political controversy of his era. His essays covered religious tolerance, trade policy, Scottish union, and criminal justice. The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702) landed him in the pillory and prison because authorities mistook his biting satire for a genuine call to persecute nonconformists.
These writings give a window into early 18th-century English politics that few other sources match. Defoe often wrote anonymously or under pseudonyms, and he wasn’t above arguing both sides of an issue if it suited his purposes. Many of these pamphlets have been reprinted in modern scholarly editions, though casual readers are more likely to know Defoe through his novels.