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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Robinson Crusoe
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(The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner 1719) Narrative by Daniel *Defoe, inspired by the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk – a Scottish sailor who spent five years, 1704–9, as a lone castaway on a Pacific island. Robinson Crusoe, also alone on an island after a shipwreck, uses great ingenuity to build a house and a boat, and to domesticate animals. He is later helped by a native whom he rescues from cannibals on a Friday (calling him therefore Man Friday). After overcoming a mutiny on a passing English ship, Crusoe and Friday sail on it for Europe. The thrill of adventure and survival has made Robinson Crusoe immensely popular at every period, while the realism with which Crusoe's predicament is imagined by Defoe has caused the book to be claimed as the first English novel.
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