A Short History of England, Chesterton gives us a cutting, humorous and brilliant tour of English History; though to be honest it's more of a collection of essays and a commentary on popular histories of the day. It follows the great arc of English history from the Roman era to WWI, always with wit, charm and empathy. To get a full sense for Chesterton's philosophical romp through time, it is perhaps best to at least have a vague familiarity with the island's history before reading the book. Having done so (or not) the reader will certainly be thrilled with G.K.'s brilliant and poignant...

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book is sometimes referred to as a metaphysical thriller. In Edwardian era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him at a party and they debate the meaning of poetry. Gregory argues revolt is the basis of poetry. Syme demurs, insisting the essence of poetry is not revolution, but rather law. He antagonizes Gregory by asserting the most poetical of human...

Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 51 detective short stories (and two framing vignettes), most of which were later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor (1870-1952), a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922. The relationship was recorded by O'Connor in his 1937 book Father Brown on Chesterton.

G.K. Chesterton, along with C.S. Lewis, ranks among the most influential Christian intellectuals of the 20th century. In What's Wrong with the World, Chesterton offers his characteristically incisive, witty analysis of the social and moral issues of his time. As he saw it, Christianity-if it was indeed the Truth-could and should engage every aspect of culture. "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting," he famously wrote. "It has been found difficult; and left untried." Many find Chesterton's analysis just as insightful as it was nearly a century ago. Others, however, find...

Sometimes it seems that nothing is more heretical than being orthodox. Westerners live in a world that celebrates rebels who step out of the norm and critique long held traditions and beliefs. In some cases, these rebels call attention to wrongs and abuses such as segregation and slavery, but there is a dark side to celebrating rebels. The ranks of those who rebel against traditional Christian beliefs grow increasingly vocal and proud of their defiance of God's Word. This is not a new phenomenon, but was noticed, documented, and critiqued in 1905 by G. K. Chesterton in his work Heretics. The...

Chesterton uses his compilation of essays in Tremendous Trifles as a guide to reflect on everyday life. Among this collection: A Piece of Chalk -where a drawing exercise turns into a lesson on the nature of truth, Twelve Men -an explanation on why we have juries made of our peers and not professional jurors, The Dragon's Grandmother -on why we should read fairy tales to our children along with many more endearing reflections.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly unchanged London in 1984. Although the novel is set in the future, it is, in effect, set in an alternative reality of Chesterton's own period, with no advances in technology or changes in the class system or attitudes. It postulates an impersonal government, not described in any detail, but apparently content to operate through a figurehead king, randomly chosen. The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is...

The Man Who Knew Too Much and other stories is a book of detective stories by English writer G. K. Chesterton. Is the main protagonist is Horne Fisher. In the final story, "The Vengeance of the Statue," Fisher notes: "The Prime Minister is my father's friend. The Foreign Minister married my sister. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is my first cousin." Because of these intimate relationships with the leading political figures in the land, Fisher knows too much about the private politics behind the public politics of the day. This knowledge is a burden to him in the eight stories, because he is...

Orthodoxy is a book by G. K. Chesterton that has become a classic of Christian apologetics. Chesterton considered this book a companion to his other work, Heretics. In the book's preface Chesterton states the purpose is to "attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it." In it, Chesterton presents an original view of Christian religion. He sees it as the answer to natural human needs, the "answer to a riddle" in his own words, and not simply as an arbitrary truth received from somewhere outside the boundaries of...

Journalist, novelist, poet, artist and art critic, essayist, theologian, propagandist, philosopher, and creator of the wily old Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton is one of the most beguiling authors of the early twentieth century. When asked to perform a lecture tour in 1921, Chesterton was in a slump of depression. He had recently lost his brother to the First World War and his wavering faith in the face of the horrors of the conflict only intensified his malaise. 'What I Saw in America' tells us as much about the author and his particular views as it does about his destination. Indeed,...