Kapitän Bob Singleton

by Daniel Defoe

Der Roman spielt in der Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts. Der Ich-Erzähler Bob schildert sein Leben von seiner Kindheit an, seine Abenteuern als Seefahrer und Pirat und schließlich sein Leben als Handelsunternehmer in England. Bob Singleton wird als Kind wohlhabender Eltern von einer Diebin entführt, an eine Bettlerin weitergegeben und an eine Zigeunerin für 12 Shilling verkauft. Nach dem gewaltsamen Tod dieser Frau am Strang nimmt sich eine Pfarrgemeinde des Jungen an. Er besuchte eine Pfarrschule und beginnt danach sein Seefahrerleben mit dem Dienst an Bord einer Galione oder Karake auf der Indienroute nach Goa. Er wird Steuermann. Bob Singleton wird infolge einer Meuterei auf Madagaskar gemeinsam mit anderen Meuterern ausgesetzt. Mit einem Boot erreicht er das Festland. Danach durchquert er Afrika. Zunächst macht er sein Glück, erreicht die afrikanische Westküste und kehrt mit Reichtümern beladen nach England zurück. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) war ein englischer Schriftsteller in der Frühzeit der Aufklärung, der durch seinen Roman Robinson Crusoe weltberühmt wurde. Defoe gilt damit als einer der Begründer des englischen Romans.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Adventure, Pirates, 18th Century, British Literature, Literature

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1720

About the author

Daniel Defoe was an English novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him.
Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works—books, pamphlets, and journals—on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism and economic journalism.

Reviews

[W.D. Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's like the obverse of Robinson Crusoe, innit? Unrighteous dude can't keep still, sees the world, never resting longer in one place than it takes to turn unjustly-acquired goods into gold...but just like in that other book, everything that he sees here is made sense of, filtered through, a thoroughly pragmatic European trader's sensibility, in mercantile terms: the entire continent of Africa, for example (which he and his colleagues must traverse, largely on foot, in the first half of the novel) is but a backdrop for that great individualist project of making one's way in the world, and of mastering & transforming passive nature (and her creatures, including those countless and forever-nameless indigenous peoples) into use-value and then of course exchange-value, of putting the whole God-given thang to work —the whole point of our way of life to this very day, in other words, come to think of it....

Along the way, Defoe is consistently, typically, scrupulous to pile up enough documentary-style detail to fool us into believing that this is a factual document (again, as with Crusoe, Moll Flanders and Journal of the Plague Year, as if the Lord would not be pleased by so much mere...fiction), though the sheer amount of overmuch suchness of this material, it does feel more somewhat more, erm, lightly-worn here than in those latter two books—and all the better for it, for this reader at least.

Of particular interest, after the fairly adventurous trek across the benighted dark continent is our Captain Singleton's bromance with William the Quaker, a willing captive of the pirate ship that Singleton serves on during the novel's second half, who is always at-the-ready with witty banter and wise counsel, so as to keep things lively (or livelier than they otherwise would have been), for the pirate cruise is not nearly as swashbuckling as one might have been led to believe by our otherwise over-honest, not-too-bloodthirsty Captain when he protesteth a bit o'ermuch:

and this I may venture to say before Hand, upon the Word of a PYRATE, that I shall not be able to recollect the full, no not by far, of the great Variety which has formed one of the most reprobate Schemes that ever man was capable to present to the World.

Whew, now something like that might've upped the star -quotient a notch or two, but really Defoe's seafaring scallywags are less like that variety of pirate one encounters in, say, R.L Stevenson, than are those true reprobates of our present-day (i.e. those well-dressed/coiffed, private(er) equity managers who party together, have got each others' backs, and can be just a tad ruthless when the odd hostile takeovers come along, which is thankfully often enough to keep those pages turning.

Thankfully, too, the Captain's William largely spares us of the kind of holier-than-thou moralizing and constant invocations of divine Providence that we get in Crusoe or Plague Year. As shall this William, too! Amen to that.

And amen as well to this Oakville Ontarian transplant to Nova Scotia and his dirge on privateering (in which the singer learns that life is, alas, not as fungible as gold, and the true value of a "letter of marque"* from the king ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Nl3...

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_...

[George Mac · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this book for an Early 18th Century Literature class and I'm going to level with all of you. This book made me want to take a Forever Nap™.

It was so meandering and bloated and said so little and yet too much at the same time. My friend and I eventually had to resort to using a public domain audio book from YouTube at double speed in order to get through it. We lay down on her dorm room bed, dissociating, attempting to absorb what little plot there was. When we eventually emerged, it apparently had poured rain and we hadn't noticed at all. Dead ass, a rainbow was outside and it kind of felt like a sign to us that we were going to be rewarded for our suffering.

It was so bad but also pretty gay, so I guess we begrudgingly stan. Still, don't even bother trying to read it.

[Maddie · Rating 1 out of 5]

found it most difficult to read beyond the handbook for European colonization to see any real ingenuity or creativity layered somewhere deeper in the plot

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, I did not like this book. It's cool that Defoe is considered (possibly) one of the first novelists, but thank the Lord novelists have progressed since then. For something that was supposed to set a literary tradition about pirates (or so I'm told), it was so boring. Defoe's writing feels mostly dull and includes irrelevant details of travel. It felt really difficult to stay engaged with the text (especially since there are no breaks in the entire novel; again, so thankful novelists started using chapters). I'm almost hateful that I had to read this full book for class when I know most of it will be irrelevant to the class material. I've actually never struggled so much to read a book - I literally found an audio on Youtube and put it on 2x speed to keep me from putting the book down (I saw another GoodReads review that said they did this and it truly helped me not give up on the book). The main character (Bob/Captain Singleton) is rather insufferable imo. the only time things got interesting was when it seemed like he and William were in love at the end of the novel...and then Bob married his sister in the second last paragraph of the book....

[Sofia Cimballa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One really long chapter. Liked it a lot except for chapters are important to me a fact which Defoe neglects.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A follow-up to Robinson Crusoe, but with a far looser structure. The first half concerns the young narrator, kidnapped and sold as a child, abandoned with a group of would-be mutineers on Madagascar. They get to the mainland of Africa (not a geographically or historically real Africa but a mythic landscape stitched together from incomplete maps, travellers’ accounts, and speculation) and make their way across it, a journey that takes a couple of years. The second half is his account of his life as a pirate captain, cruising the world looking for treasure. One of the most interesting things about the book is the porous and ever-flexible boundary between piracy/theft/predatory early capitalism and legitimate trade; in a world of empire and colonialism and exploitation and power, the two are hard to distinguish, then and now. The convoluted and unconvincing attempt by the narrator late in the book to justify his life and his wealth, to reconcile these with anything resembling ethics or morality or goodness or justice, is also fascinating and instructive.

[Vircenguetorix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Escrita un año después de su gran obra "Robinson Crusoe", en "Las aventuras del capitán Singleton" tiene mucho de lo mejor de Defoe, pero también de lo peor. Racismo, anglocentrismo, xenofobia y colonialismo entre otras joyas. Pero también vamos a descubrir la aventura con mayúsculas.

Esta novela es muy distinta de "Crusoe", tiene una acción, escenarios, batallas, peripecias realmente estimables. Es una historia de crecimiento y superación, que lleva al protagonista desde ser un grumete a regresar con fortunas y sobre todo un bagaje de su vida completo de regreso a su Inglaterra natal.

Lo mejor de la novela es toda la parte marítima, desde las estrictas relaciones entre la tripulación y los oficiales a los términos náuticos que desgraciadamente hoy apenas se conocen por la gente joven.

La parte final de la novela se vuelve más intimista, espiritual, metafísica, y donde parece que nuestro protagonista abomina de su etapa corsaria y de muchos excesos de su vida que no conducen a nada, más que al goce inmediato y pasajero.

Aunque infinitamente menos conocida que "Robinson Crusoe y que "Moll Flanders", la opción lectora del capitán Singleton es más que recomendable si de verdad eres un amante de las aventuras de siempre.

[Leilani · Rating 1 out of 5]

not my favourite book ever
got about a hundred pages in and the main character was literally a slaver
so many words were said of so little substance
the only part of the book for which I had any hope was in the last fifty ish pages where William and singleton are definitely in love and then singleton goes and marries williams sister. I've never been so disappointed by a book before in my life.
all I can say is that it's definitely a good bedtime story, I'm pretty sure I was asleep with my eyes open for half of it

[Kyra Bredenhof · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one better than Robinson Crusoe. A (mostly) exciting story of pirates and treasure, good and evil, total depravity and repentance.

[Edward Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered this book in an Oxfam bookshop in Oxford - a 1969 hardback with distinctive orange cover, published in ‘Oxford English Novels’. This context and the object itself added much to the charm and enjoyment of the book, which consists of a long personal (fictional) account of the main character’s pirating adventures, mainly in Madagascar, Africa, and the Indian Ocean. However, the story itself is at times dull to the point of insipid, very repetitive, and often lacking detail or emotion around events that could be told in a far more engaging manner. Of course, there are additional issues around general racism/colonialism and a couple of particularly despicable acts described (and therefore, imagined) during encounters with local inhabitants; these are somewhat jarring. Still, it was a fairly enjoyable read - certainly interesting from an historical perspective - and amazing to think that it was written in the early 18th century.

[Isabell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was surprised how much I liked this book in the end. I haven't read Robinson Crusoe yet, so I can't say if this book meets up with it; I might do so later.

The book tells the story of Bob Singleton, who had been kidnapped as a boy from a good home and grew up with no real home. He came aboard a ship and eventually ended up being cast on an island with other crewmen. They managed to get to Africa and about the first half of the novel deals with the company's travel through Africa until they found a port from which they could get back to Europe. After their return there Singleton became member of another ships' crew and after a mutiny they led the lives of pirates with Singleton as their captain, which mostly covers the last half of the book, finishing in Singleton and a friend being repentant, leaving of their (successful) lives as pirates and returning home in disguise to find a peaceful life.

I was surprised that the natives of the islands and Africa were not depicted so much as savages but as real people. Although they lived differently with other habits, the travelers still treated them with respect and lived friendly among some of them for a time. William was probably my favorite character in the story and he was certainly the sense in it, often cautioning his friend Singleton and giving him good advice. It was him, who eventually got Singleton to give up piracy.

All the adventures and travels of Singleton are talked about in great detail, which is sometimes a bit dull, probably also because there is next to none dialogue in the beginning and only some near the end of the book. It certainly picked up after the company had left Africa and Singleton began his life as a pirate. While I enjoyed his turn of mind to leave of the piracy, it seemed a bit sudden and his motives don't really convince me. Still the message is clear and all in all I don't regret having read this lesser known book written by Daniel Defoe.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of Daniel Defoe's journalistic pirate novel Captain Singleton is not the floor-to-ceiling mischief that I expected. It's never page after page of rough-and-tumble, bloodthirsty, irresistible mayhem. It's actually rather boring, in that all the literary work (heavy description, detail, focus) goes to the dullest parts of the story: instead of fighting or piratical industry or awesome English naval power, we're treated to the mediocre routines of a bunch of plain-faced nobodies. Singleton's men simply "took" a ship, while the exact length, direction, and difficulty of a short march is excruciatingly reported.

I knew I wouldn't be getting anything like an action/adventure book written at the present, or even like one written a hundred years ago; a book from 1720 would of course be primitive all in all. But I thought if its writing weren't fit for a modern piratophile then surely its plot would be. Sadly, it falls short even there.

There are a few brief bits of magic, though: as a young man, Singleton was brought before the Inquisition, and he's thankful that "Catholic" was the first option they gave him, or he might have picked the other one in his religious ignorance; and then, toward the end of his African adventure, he marvels that one group of natives, in spite of the fact that "our Men had made something free with their Women," never went to war with him. Both are fairly surprising shots at comedy in a book that's otherwise filled with stolid, impersonal 18th-century prose.

Defoe's book also shows a very fascinating personality within its characters' chauvinism, a kind of marvelously ridiculous might-is-right bullheadedness. I suppose that sort of thing is appropriate for a pirate, but one overall thread of appropriateness can't stitch together all the other drawbacks and weaknesses of his novel. Arr.

[Michael Meeuwis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richer and more interesting than "The King of Pirates," although still a technocrat's-eye-view of piracy. Includes a fascinating account of an overland journey across Africa; would read well against "Heart of Darkness," as, despite being far from sympathetic towards the African characters, is much more clear-eyed about the same parts of the world that Marlowe encounters. Another interesting addition is William, a Quaker character and the titular pirate's BFF, who acts as a full-blooded pirate--but only after a contract is signed saying that he was compelled to do so by force. This time the main character does return to England; however, he says that he will spend the rest of his life there dressed as a Greek merchant and never speaking English, despite being married to an English woman. This complicates--but, I hope, doesn't contract--my idea of the fantasy-figure of the pirate involving never actually returning home, at least in a recognizable form.

[Lukerik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice edition of what's essentially the text of the first edition, with a sensible introduction and notes. Sadly out of print, as it allows pseudo-intellectuals like me to respectably read in public adventure stories about pirates called Bob.

What’s interesting here is where you have to activate your suspension of disbelief. In most first person novels you have to ignore how some random person can write a good novel. Here, the tone is spot on throughout. It reads exactly like a memoir. What you have to wink at are things that we now know to be inaccurate. My understanding is that at this period the Portuguese had a number of trading stations along the coast of Mozambique – making a cross-continental trek across Africa completely unnecessary.

There’s much to enjoy here, funny moments and engaging events, but Bob is a relatively uninteresting narrator and the theme of money and trade is not enough to elevate this above an adventure story.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Singleton is a novel by Daniel Defoe and was first published in 1720. The full title is ‘The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton’ and it has also been published under the title ‘The Adventures of Captain Singleton’. The earlier, longer title gives you a better idea of what to expect from this novel. The narrative style is first person, and reads more like a journal than a story. The first half of the book is set in an east-west journey across central Africa, with a lot of not surprisingly dubious details of the wildlife, natives and scenery encountered – a kind of prequel to late 19th century novels of that ilk. The second half involves piracies in diverse locations around the globe, including Brazil, the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific and gets a lot more interesting, especially when you try to match location names circa. 1700 with their modern spelling. Very enjoyable.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really considered giving this book a 4/5, but I opted for a 3 just to avoid the all-too-common phenomena of grade inflation (how I made it through college). The story is interesting despite its meandering character, the first part of the book (litterally up until the 50% mark on my kindle) is about his abandonment on and subsequent treck across Africa and the second part is about his adventures as a pirate. By far, the most annoying thing about this book is that it would superficially describe some great adventure and then say something like, "but that account is far to long to be mentioned here." Also, the end is somewhat hastily tied up. Other than that, it made for a decent adventure tale.

The worst: Superficial descriptions of important or interesting events.

The best: The adventures described are fairly interesting.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess the subtitle is meant to be taken literally since he doesn't get to actual pirating until almost halfway through the book: the first half is the protagonist stealing from his employers, swindling his co-workers, attempting mutiny, urging his fellow-sailors towards piracy and trekking across the Southern half of Africa after being marooned for (you guessed it) mutiny. Eventually he gets down to piracy but this is still more of an international adventure/travelogue than a traditional pirate story. Redemption (sort of) of the protagonist at the end of the book - after he'd already made his ill-gotten fortune.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kedves kalandregény, az eleje nekem nem tetszett, de ahogy Afrikába értek, érdekessé vált a dolog. Tetszett ahogy a vadvilágról ír, eléggé különösen ír róla, no de nem egy National Geographic túra ez biológusokkal spékelve.
Valószínűleg ezt gyerekként olvasva az embernek nem tűnik fel, hogy mennyire visszatetsző, ahogy az őslakosokkal bánnak. Számomra azonban kifogásolható volt. Sose értettem meg az európai embernek miért kell rombolnia, gyilkolnia minden áron ahová a lábát beteszi. Ráadásul tiniknek szóló könyvekben ez amolyan követendő példa, hősies. Hát nem az szerintem! Ugyanilyen szempontokból utálom a vadásztörténeteket is, nem hiszem el, hogy nem lehet nyugton maradni.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite of the four Defoe stories I've read so far. Defoe's fiction is fairly tame as far as fiction goes, but this one is a little too tame for a pirate story and pretty tedious at times. It does have its moments, though. I'd say that the best part by far is near the end with the discussion about life and death between the Captain and the Quaker. But that's rather the exception. I would redirect anyone new to Defoe's fiction to Robinson Crusoe or Roxana or Moll Flanders before this one.

[John Pappas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defoe seems to be paying more attention to narrative construction in regards to plot trajectories and symmetries, as well as pacing, than in his previous works. Singleton -- rogue, adventurer and pirate -- makes his way across Africa and becomes a successful pirate. Instead of thrilling tales of swashbuckling, we are regaled with the economic and administrative details of piracy. Defoe's pirate is probably a tongue-in-cheek satirical figure meant to criticize the colonial and financial aspirations of the British Empire and its ruling class.

[Katherine Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Defoe wrote this a year after he wrote Robinson Crusoe. It's a mess. The story of a young orphan who goes to sea and then has some totally disjointed and crazy adventures which don't make sense, then becomes a pirate. Published in 1720 it is full of racism, colonialism and view of slavery as a normal acceptable thing. I gave it 2 stars instead of zero, because it's Daniel Defoe. Also there is a fun character named William the Quaker.

[ondedilibri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una bella storia raccontata con uno stile unico, che però mi ha coinvolta poco. Non sono riuscita ad empatizzare con il protagonista ed è una cosa che non mi è piaciuta, perché io amo empatizzare con i personaggi quando leggo un libro. Resta una bella storia che però non mi ha emozionata come speravo.

[Moaaz El · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Marco Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

La genial historia de Singleton es más que una de piratas, pues toca aventuras de exploración de Asia y África. Además, contiene infinidad de pequeñas anécdotas tan originales que hacen creíble que se trata del recuento de la vida de un personaje de carne y hueso.

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but very poor pacing lead to many lulls in the story.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I prefer Defoe's other novels. This one was just painful to get through.

[Andre Piucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Man live as if they were never to die, but so many die before they know how to live."

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book got real gay in the end, and that's what the 4th star is for, as without it, I would have just given it 3.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celkom pekná kniha.
Pohodové čítanie. Nič vyslovene napínavé, ale zase ani nemôžem tvrdiť, žeby som sa nudila, pretože je plná rôznych informácií o živote na mori (+ako prežiť v divočine), takže som omnoho múdrejšia, co sa tyka poznatkov ten doby. Defoe sa mi zapáčil a ako predstatel realizmu pribeh naozaj realistcky podal😉..

Ak si všimnete, vo včerajšom komente som sa vyjadrila, ze su tam zatiaľ tri mená..ale stacilo sa ozvat, v druhej casti akoby sa s menami postáv roztrhol pytel😆.. lodný lekár William sa mi zapáčil asi najviac. A to isté aj s dialógmi - priamej reci je v druhej časti o trochu viac..😋 aspon mam ten pocit.

Po tom, čo kapitán Bob vsetko zlato z Afriky "prehajdakal" (kinda) tak sa dal k piratstvu..a povedala by som, ze tu nastava druhá časť príbehu, kedy opisuje, rozne prihody, ako dopadali svoju korisť. Keď uz sme pri tom, strašne sa mi páčilo, aky bol ľudský pokial to bolo možné. Proste nebol ten typ piráta, čo by bezhlavo zabijal, dokonca sa zakazdym pýtal obetí, ci by sa k nim nechceli pridat. (Ked nie, tak ich bud predali, alebo prepustili - nikdy nezabili.) Raz dokonca posadka chcela hodit prepadnutych chudakov k rybám, ale sam kapitán ich napokon musel upokojovat. A tiez sa mi pacilo, ze ked si nevedel dat rady, tak si dal poradit od Williama.

Taktiez pasáž, ked naďabili na otrokarsku loď bola dosť zaujímavá.. Chceli ju prepadnúť, ale zistili, ze su na nej samí černosi, ktorí sa oslobodili. Samozrejme dorozumievali sa zubami-nechtami ale aj tak si navzájom nic nerozumeli. (Dokonca ich chceli mucit, aby z nich dostali, ako sa vyslobodili, ale William im to našťastie vyhovoril, pretoze logicky by to nemalo zmysel - s mučením ci bez, aj tak by si koli roznym jazykom nerozumeli..) a najlepsia scéna bola, ked William liecil jednemu zranenému černochovi nohu (zranil si ju pri vyslobodzovaní) - vsetkych 10 lodných lekárov (pretoze Singletonova lod patrila actually ku flotille niekolkych -asi tak 3-4och - piratskych lodí) z ostatných lodí povedalo, ze uz sa to dá jedine amputovat. Ale Will bol taky, ze: ''Nah, ja to skúsim po svojom.." tak mu to tam vyrezaval postupne vsetko to choré mäso - chudák pacient omdlety v horuckach vacsinu casu, ale nakoniec mu tú nohu napravil. (Dokonca aj kosti mu tam voľáko napraval...)

V druhej casti najprv krizovali Karibik, potom presli do Indického oceána, potom Červené/Arabské more, Indonézia - Filipíny a Moluky, potom MaleDivy (cize opäť IO) +Cejlon, Madagaskar...

Akože, co sa týchto geografickych nazvo tyka, tak aj to je velke plus tejto knihy, pretoze to poriadne otestovalo moje geo znalosti a pretestovalo to, co vsetko si pamätám zo slepych máp a plavebne cesty, ktoré su popisované v knihe len podporovali moju priestorovú predstavivosť o svete. Takze aj toto som si vychutnala.😊 (A myslím si, ze aj vďaka tomuto kniha nepotrebovala ziadne zbytočné opisy okolia - pretoze som si tie kraje vedela predstaviť aj sama.)

Jednu hviezdičku odoberam len koli necelistvemu deju, ale chapem, ze by to ani nešlo. Taktiež s postavami som sa az tak nestotoznila - tym myslim, ze obcas mi prisli len take povrchne, nudne alebo bez pribehu. Zase si toto musim znegovat tym, ze vdaka tomu mi pride ten pribeh o to realistickejsi, pretoze to nie je prehnane s osobnymi prehnanymi pribehmi kadej postavy, takze to bolo vlastne vyrovnane a tak akurát.
A 4* dávam preto, ze kniha je naozaj obohacujuca o informácie z tej doby a plus geografické znalosti. Plus je v nej plno nadhernych myslienok o tom, ako sa k sebe ludia (rozne kultúry) chovajú, o tom, co robi bohatstvo s clovekom atd. ...

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pirate story actually written during "Golden Age of Piracy" (approx. 1650-1720). Daniel Defoe himself never left England, although he was clearly well-read and acquainted with sailors and merchants enough that this fictional memoir of a famous Captain Singleton feels entirely plausible, with its wealth of detail on international trade and ship mechanics. This book is subsequently quite valuable as an historic document.

As a story, however, it mostly falls flat. Most modern readers seeking a fun pirate tale are likely to be put off by the dry, convoluted early eighteenth century prose, and not to mention the casual treatment of African slavery (a feature of Robinson Crusoe as well). At one point our hero comes across a slave ship whose human cargo had overthrown and murdered their white captors in retaliation for the rape of two black women. The narrative seems to acknowledge some sympathy to their cause, yet the Africans are seized by Singleton's buccaneers and sold anyway. Pretty jarring stuff, especially in this age of Black Lives Matter.

Of course, as is usual with Defoe's protagonists, Singleton repents in the end of his sinful ways and retires peacefully to a life of sober reflection and conventional matrimony. He acknowledges the source of his wealth to be theft and murder but never gives any thought to his role in human bondage. His BFF is a devout Quaker too, a sect vehemently abolitionist from the beginning, so it's not like he (or Defoe) has ignorance as an excuse. So, as I said, this book is an historical document only and could only be made palatable to a casual reader through extensive editing and abridgment, in which case, what's even the point.