WELCOME TO THE 3 Books To Know series, our idea is to help readers learn about fascinating topics through three essential and relevant books.

      These carefully selected works can be fiction, non-fiction, historical documents or even biographies.

      We will always select for you three great works to instigate your mind, this time the topic is: The Devil.

      The Political History of the Devil is a 1726 book by Daniel Defoe. 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.

      Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men."

      The Devil on Two Sticks is a 1707 novel by French writer Alain-René Lesage. It is set in Madrid, and it tells the story of demon king Asmodeus, Don Cleophas Leandro Perez Zambullo and his beloved, Donna Thomasa.

      This is one of many books in the series 3 Books To Know. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the topics.

      Authors

      JOHN MILTON, (born December 9, 1608, London, England—died November 8, 1674, London), English poet, pamphleteer, and historian, considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare.

      Daniel Defoe, (born 1660, London, Eng.—died April 24, 1731, London), English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722).

      Alain-René Lesage, (born May 6, 1668, Sarzeau, France—died Nov. 17, 1747, Boulogne), prolific French satirical dramatist and author of the classic picaresque novel Gil Blas, which was influential in making the picaresque form a European literary fashion.

      The Political History of the Devil

      DANIEL DEFOE

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      Preface.

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      “THIS SIXTH EDITION of the History of the Devil, besides large impressions of the first, second, third and fourth, is a certificate from the world of its general acceptation; so that we need not, according to the custom of modern editors, boast of it without evidence, or tell a fib in its favor.

      “The subject is singular, and it has been handled after a singular manner. The wise part of the world has been pleased with it, the merry part has been diverted with it, and the ignorant part has been taught by it; none but the malicious part of the world has been offended at it. Who can wonder then, that when the Devil is not pleased, his friends should be angry?

      “The strangest thing of all is, to hear Satan complain that the story is handled profanely. But who can think it strange, that his advocates should be, what he was from the beginning?

      “The author affirms, and has good vouchers for it (in the opinion of such whose judgment passes with him for an authority,) the whole tenor of the work is solemn, calculated to promote serious religion, and capable of being improved in a religious manner. But he does not think, that we are bound never to speak of the Devil but with an air of terror, as if we were always afraid of him.

      “It is evident the Devil, as subtle and as frightful as he is, has acted the ridiculous and foolish part, as much as most of God’s creatures, and daily does so. And he cannot believe it is any sin to expose him for a foolish devil, as he is, or show him to the world, that he may be laughed at.

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