G. K. Chesterton Books

I got this book sometime ago and I am Just now (March 10, 2007) getting to read it. The late Mr. Chersterton writes with a style that will hold you from wanting to stop reading. I look forward to the next "visit" with him when I open the cover of his tale. You shall enjoy an evening with Mr. Chesterton.

William P. McNamara
Jacksonville, Fl.

Chesterton's _Autobiography_ is one of the best Christian autobiographies that are out there. Follow Chesterton on his journey out of the insanity of the early 20th century and into the freeing sanity of the Catholic Church.

Chesterton's insights into various figures and movements of the early 20th century are a great joy to read, and still are important today in combatting various contemporary insanities. If you want to understand more about one of the greatest English authors of the 20th century, this book is a must have.

We have an original copy of THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEW, SILVER JUBILEE RECORD NUMBER 1910-1935, we were wandering if it had any value or not. Please let me know , if you have any idea.

Thank you: Keith

Chesterton's "ILN" essays consume 11 volumes of the "Collected Works". This volume contains an enormous amount of humor and memorable passages on topics as relevant today as they were in 1908-1910. As usual, Chesterton covers a wide range of topics--European culture, the press, the arts, morals, capitalism, socialism, futurism, evolution, women's sufferage, the temperance movement, Christianity, and European history to name some. A few quotations may give you a sense of his remarkable style.

"A man can smile when he is dead. Composure, resignation, and the most exquisite good manners are, so to speak, the strong points of corpses."

"It seems to me that the mass of men do agree on the mass of morality, but differ disasterously about the proportions of it. In other words, all men admit the Ten Commandments, but they differ horribly about which is the first Commandment and which is the tenth."

"We must first of all establish the principle that we do not want a newspaper to give us a vision of the world made perfect; we want a church for that. We do not want a newspaper to give us good news; we want a gospel for that. We want a newspaper to give us true news, not elevating news or improving news."

Chesterton shifts from the sublime to the ridiculous with the unbridled glee of a child. But always there is a deep sense of truth in what he says. An absolute joy to read!

This is the last volume in the Ignatius Chesterton Collected Works series. The material here differs a bit from earlier volumes of his ILN essays, in that he jests a bit less often, and more noticeably, he hammers and hammers on one theme: the sloppy, superficial, lazy and irrational thinking that he sees underlying every popular trend in Western culture. Regardless of his subject--feminism, American culture (too materialistic, but as truly a democratic nation as ever there was), education, communism--Chesterton is relentless in pointing out the absurd arguments and conclusions of his opponents. I thought the two most striking trends he observes throughout these years were--

1. A world that is devolving from Puritanism to paganism, and seeing a resurgence in religion at the same time. This is interesting because the cultural clash between secular and religious elements in the West today developed out of this period.

2. An American culture that is overwhelming European culture because of its size, energy, and commercial success. GKC is concerned that America's "commercial optimism" will devalue more important aspects of Western thinking and values.

But GKC has so much to say about everything, it's hard to summarize his observations. On September 27, 1930, he reflected on his 25th anniversary with the ILN. He concludes that essay with a great expression of his most fundamental beliefs--

"For I have always believed, in a sense not understood by either Puritan or Pagan, in the Simple Life. Only it is a simplicity of the heart and not of the dress or diet, and the essence of it is thanks. The new Puritan will not give thanks for wine or drink it, and the new Pagan will drink it without giving thanks..."

In my opinion, the essay is the literary form where Chesterton's brilliance shines the brightest, and so these Illustrated News collections make for great reading. This volume, containing the columns from 1929-1931, is one of my favorites because he deals with a greater diversity of topics than, say, during the WWI years.

Chesterton was never afraid to poke fun at his own self or reputation, and in one of the first and funniest essays in the collection, titled " If I Was a Preacher," he remarks that a Utopia would be a place where he would be gagged and rendered speechless. He moves on in subsequent columns to confront the ideas of the era: the rise of Darwinism and scientism, the emergence of psychology and sociology as serious science, gender politics, prohibition, etc. Among the personalities he remarks on are H.L. Mencken, Clarence Darrow, Abraham Lincoln, T.S. Eliot, and Albert Einstein. Chesterton is especially entertaining when writing about modernism, and the myopia of a society which considered itself superior just because it was modern. There are a dozen or so essays on that alone. They make interesting reading because they are so applicable to the 21st century world, too.

For example: in a column here from August 1931, GKC satirizes the "modern" logic that says that marriage vows went out with Victorian dresses; he reasons that Socratic ideals must have gone out with long tunics, or that Spinoza's mathematics no longer made sense when he took off his shirt. Even those long familiar with Chesterton will find provocative and surprising reading here.

Greetings,
I received my order in great condition, much sooner than I expected. Whether this is b/c you guys did a great job getting it out quickly, or the parcel service had extra coffee that morning, I appreciated the expediency of the delivery.
Thanks a bunch,
Have a great day :)
Billy P.
Augusta, Ga
P.s. The book, of course, was in great condition. Thanks again.

This is Volume 30 of the "Collected Works". Chesterton's editorials mainly cover political, social, historical, cultural and philosophical topics relating to World War I. As always, GK's insights are fascinating. Avowedly anti-Prussian, he lambastes the Germans at every turn. The more Chesterton writes about Germany, the easier it is to understand how Nazism and its horrors came about. Besides Germany, GK also deals extensively with happening in England, France, and the United States. All in all, a very relevant volume in this superb series!

This volume of Chesterton's Collected Works brings back into print The End of the Armistice, the last book GKC wrote. I have always thought this was one of his finest pieces of non-fiction. It is thoughtful and articulate, as he always was. It shows how clearly he saw Hitler and the Nazis for what they were, at a time when an embarrassing number of English and Europeans who should have known better admired Nazi Germany. Finally, it connects Chesterton's abhorrence of the Third Reich with his religious convictions, making GKC in retrospect immensely more admirable as a Roman Catholic than Pius XII. The End of the Armistice is by itself worth the price of this book.

One thing for sure: GK was no fan of Prussia. Volume V of "Collected Works" contains political essays mainly dealing with events surrounding WWI. One of my favorite selections is "The Crimes of England', a candid confession of his homeland's crimes against humanity. GK lays much of the blame on Prussia, or more precisely, on England's government for cozying up to Prussia beginning with the William Pitt government around 1800. In GK's view, England should have stood with France, as inheritors of Roman/Christian values, in opposition to barbarian Prussia. Instead, England created a monster by propping up the Prussian regime, to the peril of all nations--particularly France, Poland, and Belgium. Moreover, barbaric Prussian values crept into English political and intellectual life as a result of this unholy association. English fascination with German social efficiency and scientific determinism hastened England's decline from a pastoral country to one overwhelmed by an ugly, dehumanizing urban capitalism. These are common themes in GK's writing, but I think never more fully fleshed out than here, as he traces all these developments from Pitt forward. It's a pity Chesterton does not show up more on reading lists for Western college courses in history.

G.K. Chesterton was happy to do some spoofery of the deductive detective genre -- his detectives seemed to depend more on the knowledge of human nature. One good example is Horne Fisher, the star character who solves bizarre little mysteries because he "knows too much... and all the wrong things."

The first story opens with a reknowned book critic stumbling across a dead man with his head bashed on. Fortunately Fisher is fishing nearby, and is able to deduce who killed the poor man, when, and cleverly figures out the best (and most theatrical) way to get results.

In each story, Horne deals with another strange mystery -- the framing of an Irish "prince" freedom fighter, the vanishing of a priceless coin, a man killed off in the Middle East, an eccentric rich man dies during an obsessive fishing trip, another vanishes during an ice skate, a bizarre dispute over an estate, and most shockingly, a statue crushing his own uncle...

Chesterton was a good mystery writer. He could spin up bizarre little crimes (murder, theft, treachery) for a variety of colourful reasons, from the political to purely psychological. "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is a good example of that, and it shows Chesterton veering into more politically-charged territory than in his other mysteries, with the Irish-English conflict, spies and impending war.

But these mysteries also have Chesterton the philosopher/theologian/thinker. He writes in colourful, poetic prose ("as if the world were steeped in wine rather than blood"), and has brief moments where Horn muses on human nature.

"Patriotism is not the first virtue. Patriotism rots into Prussianism when you pretend it is the first virtue," he remarks at one point, as an example. Through him, Chesterton gives us brief little insights into what he knows too much of -- a worldview remarkably simple, but very insightful.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much" is an odd kind of detective -- instead of the quirky detectives or deep thinkers, Horn is rather melancholy and plaintive, almost tormented by his own knowledge. This comes to a peak in the bittersweet final story, where Horne finds himself in a wretched situation, with shocking results.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much" is a solid collection of detective stories, but underlying the mysteries are Chesterton's deeper looks at human nature. Excellent reading.

Man needs spiritual growth and Chesterton is the best to do this in a great style.

For a book that's only about a hundred pages long, "The Man Who Was Thursday" is pretty packed.

G.K. Chesterton's classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, human nature, and a few dozen other weight concepts. And somehow he manages to mash it all together into a delightful satire, full of tongue-in-cheek commentary that is still relevant today.

As the book opens, Gabriel Symes is debating with a soapbox anarchist. The two men impress each other enough that the anarchist introduces Symes to a seven-man council of anarchists, all named after days of the week. In short order, they elect Symes their newest member -- Thursday.

But they don't know that he's also been recruited by an anti-anarchy organization. And soon Symes finds out that he's not the only person on the council who is not what he seems. There are other spies and double-agents, working for the same cause. But who -- and what -- is the jovial, powerful Mr. Sunday, the head of the organization?

Hot air balloons, elaborate disguises, duels and police chases -- Chesterton certainly knew how to keep this novel interesting. Though written almost a century ago, "The Man Who Was Thursday" still feels very fresh. That's partly because of Chesterton's cheery writing... and partly because it's such an intelligent book.

He doesn't avoid some timeless topics that make some people squirm. Humanity (good and bad), anarchy, religion and its place in human nature, and creation versus destruction all get tackled here -- disguised as a comic police investigation. And unlike most satires, it isn't dated; the topics are reflections of humanity and religion, so they're as relevant now as they were in 1908.

But the story isn't pedantic or boring; Chesterton keeps things lively by having his characters act like real people, rather than mouthpieces. From Symes to the Colonel to the mysterious Sunday himself, they all have a sort of friendly, energetic quality. "We're all spies! Come and have a drink!" one of the characters announces cheerfully near the end.

And of course, once the madcap police investigations are finished, there's still a mystery. Who is Sunday? What are his goals? And for that matter, WHAT is Sunday -- genius, force of nature, villain or god? The answer is a bit of a surprise, and as a reflection of Chesterton's beliefs, it's a delicate, intelligent piece of work.

"The Man Who Was Thursday" is a wacky little satire that will both amuse and educate you. Not bad for a book often subtitled "A Nightmare."

A hundred thousand years could go by until the human race finally wakes up the fact that Gilbert Keith Chesterton is one of the great est writers of the sad and bad twentieth century along side of James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Samuel Beckett, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jorge Luis Borges, Mervyn Peake, and, of course, Franz Kafka. His psychedelic quest-romance "The Man Who Was Thursday" will shock you - if you have nerves left to be shocked. If you don't have nerves Chesterton will wave his aesthete's magic wand and create you a new pair of nerves. The book is not a roller coaster ride through phantasmgoric visions of evil and beauty. It is a quest of one man to get to that most dreadful of topics - The Bottom Of Things. The "anarchists" are everywhere, and like blasphemous termites from a world beyond they are attempting to eat away at the roots of human civilization until it crumbles in flames. I am often reminded of the sublime fictions of Thomas Pynchon while I contemplate "The Man Who Was Thursday". Chesterton, out of magic bag, throws out plenty of paranoia and devilry and fine poetical prose to keep us feeling like we are living in a grade-b version of film noir crossed with a Monty Python movie where all of the actors have sipped their daily quanta of holy water and have sworn comical oaths to the Divinity. I often wonder if Mr. Chesterton's little psychedelic surprize played any role in influencing Patrick McGoohan ( the world's most under utilized actor) when he created the monstrous television series "The Prisoner". There is the same unconventional idea that morality is a form of rebellion in both works. And Chesterton prizes human freedom at least as much as Mr. McGoohan does, though Mr. McGoohan is grim and even savage while Mr. Chesterton is almost always "gay" and humorous even at his darkest. Speaking of gay I am reminded of Franz Kafka for a number of reasons. Franz Kafka, apparently, loved the writings of Mr. Chesterton. Kafka once remarked that Chesterton was so "gay" it was almost as if he had discovered God. "The Man Who Was Thursday" should be regarded as Kafka's Rescue. Mr. Chesterton sees all of the things Mr. Kafka does but he sees both more and less. Mr. Chesterton was, of course, an aesthete. That is to say he was a man who subscribed to Theophile Gautier's idea : art for art's sake. This was a stance that Mr. Chesterton carefully concealed from himself but we can see it in his endless poetical discriptions of landscape, the physical features of characters, the psychological revelation ( "analysis" is a cold word) of characters. The Great King Chesterton was a complicated man and he gave us a subtly complicated tale. Five Stars. I would prefer seven

In keeping with many of his works, Chesterton examines the ideas of sanity, madness, and modern thought- often coming to conclusions most moderns would not like. The percepetion Chesterton gives, though eighty years old, is remarkably fresh and relevant. For the enemies of good in Chesterton's time have not really changed, aside from some slight vagrancies in vocabulary. Be forewarned: atheistic thought is taken to the hammer {as it well should be! ha!}, and all its forebearance of "modernity" is shown to be the true madness of life, rather than the seeming madness of Gabriel, who is sane {as we see, in more ways than one}.

This is a fine, quirky sort of book, relatively short, but filled with excellent insight. And it's an enjoyable read at that- a real shame it's been neglected {along with much of Chesterton's work}. I for one propose to come back to it again.

While not nearly as well known as The Father Brown mysteries or The Man Who Was Thursday, the quirky adventures of Gabriel Gale -- poet, artist and lunatic-keeper -- provide excellent entertainment for an evening spent curled up with a good book. This collection of short adventures explores some basic ideas about human nature, specifically,the ideas of poetry, insanity and sin. Some events in the stories are worthy of a laugh out loud, but each also has a darker side that causes the attentive reader to shudder, as Chesterton clearly outlines the differences between these.

I've been a mystery addict since I was 13, when I encountered "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", but for some reason I had never read any of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories. I recently found "The Scandal of Father Brown" in my local library. I've been eagerly devouring these stories, although paradoxically I don't want the book to end!

Father Brown is a small, unassuming figure, who peers at the world through "moonlike spectables". His appearance belies his intellect: as one character states, he could have been a detective instead of a priest. His observational skills and keen insight into human behavior allow him to solve even the most intractable problems.

Father Brown may draw comparison to other Golden Sleuths, such as Hercule Poirot, but there is one major difference: G.K. Chesterton's rich sense of humor pervades every tale. The stories aren't "funny" in the Wodehouse sense, but they display a definite appreciation of life and sense of the absurb.

Read this book! You'll be very happy you did.

Chesterton again allows us to accompany Father Brown, preternaturally-unbiased master of human nature, as he stumbles across another series of murders and mysteries. These stories in this series are not as compact as those in other books, notably "The Innocence of Father Brown," but they have the same magnetic power to draw the reader in.

As ever, Chesterton is interested not only in delivering first rate detective stories, but of describing human nature. His characters are flawed and biased, all blind in their own way, which is what makes it so difficult to see the truth that lies before them. Father Brown, ever kind and imperturbable, nearly always sees right through to the heart of the matter. Posing as a humble parish priest, which he is, he somehow sees beyond the class boundaries which it is Chesterton's special gift to point out and puncture.

Not all the stories are murder mysteries. "The Scandal of Father Brown" is about a man in pursuit of an errant wife; and "The Insoluble Problem" is about crime, but not the one Brown is called to investigate. In all of his stories, would-be detectives, constables, lovers, actors, academics and men of means cross paths in ways that are befuddling to all but the dumpy little priest in the round spectacles.

Listening to this collection was a wonderful way to pass several long commutes.

In the version I heard, BTW, reader Tom Whitworth did a great job with one exception. He evidently did not realize that Flambeau is a Frenchman!

I recently got this book out of the library in order to teach a poem on Gerard Manley Hopkins, one of the writers Buechner discusses in the text. I was astonished at Buechner's incredible diction, phrasing, and word pictures. I had not read anything else of his before, but now I want to buy this book! His writing has an incredibly mysitcal quality, which he uses to broaden our knowledge of ability to enjoy four notable authors, while showcasing his own unique vision and humility. The book is moving and gritty - it put me in tears on several occasions, and I do not cry easily. If you are at all a fan of Hopkins, Twain, Chesterton, or Shakeapeare you must read this book!

In this book, Buechner describes the lives and discusses some of the literary works of four well-known writers.

Each of the four has incorporated into his writing clues to some of the lessons learnt from the harsh realities of life. Buechner has always been a strong advocate of "telling it like it is", in contrast to a tendency in parts of the Christian Church to "say what we ought to say".

If you're looking for a writer who's prepared to face up to the sometimes very difficult aspects of life, but who maintains an active faith, this book (and Buechner's other books as well) should prove richly rewarding.

Strongly recommended!