Daniel Defoe is best known as the author of &quot;Robinson Crusoe,&quot; published in 1719. However between 1724 and 1726 he published the three volume work, &quot;A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain.&quot; This is a superb and detailed account of what Great Britain was like on the eve of the industrial and agricultural revolutions, written in a matter-of-fact style that comes over as surprisingly modern.<br /><br />The three volumes are written in the form of 13 &quot;letters,&quot; each describing a tour undertaken by Defoe.