Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift." Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729).
The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces includes (in addition to the title piece) such works as "A Meditation Upon a Broomstick," "The Logicians Refuted," "Cadenus and Vanessa," and many more.