15. A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift

Now we're up to the 1700's.  Jonathan Swift (better known as the author of Gulliver's Travels) published this satire on religious propaganda in 1704.  At the heart of the story is an allegory in which a father leaves his three sons a coat each, and forbids them to embellish the coats.  The sons first twist their father's instructions and then ignore them completely, then two of the sons strip off all the decorations (one carefully, one recklessly).  It's supposed to be an Calvinist allegory about how the Catholic Church needs to be reformed, but Swift is mocking Calvinism and religion in general, I think.