Whether or not the main source for Moll herself was a female criminal Defoe may have known personally in Newgate Prison, such as Moll King, his heroine's adventures echo events in the popular criminal biographies of the day. It is clear, moreover, that Defoe drew upon his own earlier periodical writings for a number of the episodes in the novel. The Backgrounds and Sources section provides material that influenced the conception of Moll Flanders....

Charles Darwin and his revolutionary ideas inspired pundits the world over to put pen to paper. In this unique dictionary of quotations, Darwin scholar Thomas F. Glick looks over the shoulders of those who revered- or reviled- the great scientist. What was it about Darwin that generated such widespread interest? Darwin's Origin of the Species changed the world. Naturalists, clerics, politicians, novelists, poets, musicians, economists, and philosophers...