Furbank and Owens attempt to disentangle the story of Daniel Defoe’s political career, as journalist, polemicist, political theorist and secret agent. They argue that this remarkable career calls for a good deal of rethinking, not least because biography and bibliography are here inextricably intertwined.
Philip Nicholas Furbank was an English biographer, critic and academic. His most significant biography was the well-received life of his friend E.M. Forster.