Daniel Defoe

An Essay Upon Projects Daniel Defoe

An Essay Upon Projects (1697) was the first volume published by Daniel Defoe. It begins with a portrait of his time as a "Projecting Age" and subsequently illustrates plans for the economic and social improvement of England, including an early proposal for a national insurance scheme. Many of its issues were later revised in a series of pamphlets which were published under the nom-de-plume of Andrew Moreton. They are titled Every-body's Business, Is No-body's Business (1725), The Protestant Monastery (1726), Parochial Tyranny (1727), Augusta Triumphans (1728) and Second Thoughts are Best (1729). Compared to these works, however, An Essay Upon Projects is more focused on moral criticism than being project-oriented.