Crusoe's Secret: The Aesthetics of Dissent by Tom Paulin is an illuminating collection of essays on major authors and texts from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, centering on the culture of dissent.

Comprised of pieces spanning five centuries, Crusoe's Secret explores the culture of English dissent, whether through canonical works - Paradise Lost, Robinson Crusoe, Clarissa - or moving between epic and novel, lyric, tract and drama. Tom Paulin engages with the great dissenting voices from Bunyan to D. H. Lawrence, and he casts new light on others - such as Clare or Kipling or Hopkins - whose work was touched by dissent. Crusoe's Secret confirms Tom Paulin's status as an exemplary reader, who brilliantly marries historical context and critical readings.