Gulliver´s Travels, first published in 1726, is Jonathan Swift´s best known novel. Throughout the four stories, ship´s surgeon Gulliver travels to distant lands, meets strange new peoples like the diminutive Lilliputians and the gigantic Brobdingnags, defends his ship from a pirate attack, and is marooned on a deserted island. Written with disarming simplicity and careful attention to detail, this classic is diverse in its appeal. For children, it remains an enchanting fantasy. For adults, it is a witty parody of political life in Swift's time and a scathing send-up of manners and morals in 18th-century England.