Book Launch - A Spy Amongst Us
4th Floor Linkway, John Medley Building, University of Melbourne.
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Book Launch - A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe's Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence
By Marc Mierowsky (University of Melbourne), launched by Nicola Parsons (University of Sydney)
- Wednesday 21 April, 5.30-7:00pm
- Arts Hall, Level 2, Old Arts Building, University of Melbourne
Abstract
The true story of Daniel Defoe and the dirty tricks which helped bring Scotland into union with England
In 1706, Edinburgh was on the brink of a popular uprising. Men and women took to the streets to protest the planned union with England, fearing the end of Scottish sovereignty. But unbeknownst to the mob, a spy was in their midst—the English writer Daniel Defoe, now bankrupt and thrice pilloried, had turned a government agent.
Through the lives of Defoe and his ring, their handlers, and opponents, Marc Mierowsky guides us through this shadowy underworld of espionage and propaganda—revealing a disturbing and distinctly modern political campaign.
Marc Mierowsky
Marc Mierowsky is an ARC DECRA Fellow and Lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne. He is the associate editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe and co-editor of the Oxford World's Classics edition of The Fortunate Mistress [Roxana] (Oxford University Press, 2024). With Sarah Balkin, he is co-author of Comedy and Controversy: Scripting Public Speech (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Nicola Parsons is is Associate Professor in Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Sydney.