Robinson Crusoe

By Daniel Defoe

Categories: Literature & Fiction, Teen & Young Adult

Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel, often called the first English novel, is the fictional autobiography of Robinson Crusoe, a young Englishman who goes to sea against his father's wishes. After a series of misadventures, Crusoe is shipwrecked as the only survivor on an uninhabited island near the mouth of the Orinoco. With tools salvaged from the wreck and his own labor, he builds a shelter, raises crops and keeps a journal, while wrestling with faith and solitude.

Recommended by 3 people

• Richard Branson
• Winston Churchill: “The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels are dear to British homes.”
• Mark Twain: “1. Macaulay ; Plutarch ; Grant's Memoirs ; Crusoe ; Arabian Nights ; Gulliver. (Letter to Rev. C. D. Crane, Hartford, Jan. 20, 1887)”