The Political History of the Devil is a 1726 book by Daniel Defoe.
[1] General scholarly opinion is that Defoe really did think of the Devil as a participant in world history.
He spends some time discussing John Milton's Paradise Lost and explaining why he considers it inaccurate.
His view is that of an 18th-century Presbyterian – he blames the Devil for the Crusades and sees him as close to Europe's Catholic powers.
[2] The book is listed as one belonging to Mr. Tulliver and read by his daughter Maggie in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss.