Lemuel Gulliver, English surgeon turned ship captain, embarks on four fantastic voyages, each a clash with strange beings and cultures-from the eccentric to the odious. Island by island, he meets the savage but tiny Lilliputians, the hideous Yahoos, a stable of talking horses, a race of decrepit immortals, and the ghosts of Julius Caesar and Homer.

A parody of the popular seafaring narratives of his time, a harsh judgment against inherently corrupt human nature, and a satire of the ways of England, Swift's masterpiece was written "to vex the world rather than divert it." For generations, it has inspired it.