G. K. Chesterton Books

Gilbert Keith Chesterton is certainly one of the most entertaining, and important, authors in the English language. This particular volume covers quickly, yet completely, the history of England from early Roman times to the time of the Great War, World War I. Chesterton is a man, I suspect, who would have been very hard to dislike. Though brilliant, he always approached his many opponents with a keen sense of fun and empathy. But he is certainly a writer who, though sometimes challenging, is always enjoyable.

This wonderful, short, and thoroughly readable book can really be seen as a layman's philosophical representation of the great arc of English history. To grasp Chesterton's wit and wisdom entirely, it is probably important to have at least a nodding familiarity with English history before reading the book. But, so armed, the reader will be delighted with G.K.'s retelling of the great events of England, together with his insightful commentary relative to their import.

Particularly poignant is Chesterton's rendering of the martydom of Saint Joan of Arc. He avers that, at one time or another, perhaps all British soldiers would have traded places with the common British infantryman who broke his spear to make a cross for the dying Saint. This section alone is worth the price of the entire book.

This book has enough quotes to be called GK's greatest hits. The author does a great job of giving us the big picture of a big guy and his big faith in our big (that is, universal) Church. If you're a GK reader, you'll love this book. If you're not a GK reader, read this book and you will be. This book also happens to serve as a very fine book on Catholic apologetics in its own right.

G.K. Chesterton reveals the true spirit of yuletide in this compilation of tales, stories and poems about the Christmas season. You will embark on a remarkible journey going back the very roots of the Christmas customs that we honor today.
This book has absolutely no equal! You cannot be disappointed by Chesterton's wit and poignant verbal brilliance as his words leap off the page, painting pictures of unimaginable beauty and realism!

Father Brown appears in only one story, "The Donnington Affair", which does NOT appear in _The Complete Father Brown_. Don't be fooled by the poetic qualities of Chesterton's writing - as a charter member of the Detection Club, G.K. can set a puzzle as well as anyone when he puts his mind to it. His personal quirks, some of them unlovely, appear in a few of these stories, so that one can cheat a little towards a solution, knowing how Chesterton's opinions on certain subjects are likely to affect the development of the story; regarded purely as puzzles, though, they're quite clever.

"The White Pillars Murder" features 3 detectives - the great criminologist Adrian Hyde and his two junior assistants John Brandon and Walter Weir. This story alone would be worth the price of the book; it hasn't been collected much, and can be fiendishly difficult to find. Most of the story follows Weir and Brandon doing the legwork, with Brandon in the sidekick role. Chesterton does a beautiful job here.

"The Tremendous Adventure of Major Brown", "The Singular Speculation of the House Agent" - These are the first and fourth stories from _The Club of Queer Trades_, and are best appreciated in an edition of that book including Chesterton's original illustrations (which aren't included in _13 Detectives_). Briefly, the 2 Grant brothers encounter in each such adventure someone who qualifies for membership in the club - that is, who has invented a brand-new profession - under various suspicious circumstances. Rupert, the professional detective, parodies Sherlock Holmes, charging around jumping to all the wrong conclusions; Rupert's older brother Basil (drawn as a self-portrait by the author) figures out, in the end, what's going on. The Grants' narrator, incidentally, isn't counted as one of the 13 in this collection.

"The Garden of Smoke" features Mr. Traill, formerly of Scotland Yard. The viewpoint character, however, is Catharine Crawford, just starting a new job as companion to the poet Mrs. Mowbray. (Few of Chesterton's stories have a woman in the lead role - see also 'The Moderate Murderer' in _Four Faultless Felons_.)

Horne Fisher appears in two stories, each time with a different sidekick. "The Hole in the Wall" is one of Chesterton's country house mysteries - Prior's Park, in this case, in the district of Holinwall. (The origin of the names is covered at the beginning of the story.) Like the Father Brown story 'The Red Moon of Meru', he makes a point of mentioning whether a house is actually stolen property, from Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. (Chesterton converted to Catholicism as an adult, and was eloquent on the subject.) "The Bottomless Well" is one of Chesterton's stories set in one of the Empire's eastern possessions, where a dead man isn't found *in* the great pit of the title - but *why* wasn't he?

"The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse", "When Doctors Agree" - These are the first and third stories from _The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond_. Mr. Pond, as suggested by his name, is a very quiet, mild person (in fact, he *is* a government bureaucrat), but there's more beneath the surface than first meets the eye. Like flashes of fish in a pond, odd, apparently contradictory statements sometimes appear in his conversation, when he tries to compress an odd experience into one or two sentences. His friends then have to drag the story out of him. :) The details of presentation differ from story to story, but all are organized as stories-within-a-story, wherein one of Pond's paradoxes must be explained. If this appeals to you, see also _Four Faultless Felons_, wherein each story's focus is a different paradoxical character.

Gabriel Gale appears in two stories. "The Shadow of the Shark" In "The Finger of Stone", the great scientist Boyg - some sort of high-powered authority on the process by which fossils are formed - is missing and presumed dead; Boyg's former servant Bertrand joins Gale as one of the 'detectives' working out what happened to the old fellow. (Given that evolution vs. creation science was one of Chesterton's hot buttons, one needs to keep one's eyes open during this story.)

"The Donnington Affair" - In 2 parts, the first by another author setting up a challenge for Chesterton to solve via Father Brown in the second half, which may explain why it had previously been overlooked for the 'complete' Father Brown collection to date. It does not appear in any of the individual collections (The Innocence/Wisdom/Secret/Scandal of Father Brown).

G.K. Chesterton has been accused of being a fuddy duddy old fashioned conservative. His book titled UTOPIA OF USURERS undermines this accusation. Chesterton showed clarity, passion, and deadly logic in his criticism of Big Capitalism. This is a book for anyone who considers themselves "radical" but not in the sense of the latest fad or fashion of protest. This book is also not for the timid and apprehensively conventional "do gooder." This review will focus on Chesteron's condemnation bad journalism, corruption of the law and legal (illegal) system, what Chesterton called "The Dregs of Puritanism" and abuse of language.

Chesterton condemned journalism of Big Capitalsim for various reasons. For example, he critisized that while the Usurers improved advertising, they destroyed good art. Art was intended to please aesthetics, but bad journalism reduced art to selling something. When the plutocrats said they gave what the public wanted, Chesterton scoffed at this claim. Journalistic work used advertising to sell stuff such as soap. Yet, the working classes did not post placards selling soap. The working classes raised placards attacking the corruption and illegaliaty of the Usurers which no member of the press dared to present. Chesterton rightly called journalists liars and bores, this latter quality may have undermined newspapers. Readers got bored with journalism written so poorly that it became unreadable.

Then Chesterton gave the coup de grace. He commented that a few thoughtful Englishmen committed the worst sin against Big Capitalism. The sin was that a few intelligent Englishmen started their own journals to show what knowledge, clear thinking, good writing actually were. Chesterton condemned the Usurers' journalists for writing about what was trivial and not writing about anything important.

Chesterton also had some choice words about the legal and political system. He condemned the legal system for corrupating the law and legal process to acquit Big Capitalists for crimes for which they should have been punished. He cited an example of a terrible railroad accident that was due to criminally depraved indifference which caused the death of several good people. Yet, the British legal system exonerated the culprits when the facts were clear that in an attempt to save money, the Capitalists deliberately sacrificed normal safety. Chesterton also offered more scathing denounciations when he chided the Socialists and Communists for being too kind to the Big Capitalists. Chesterton said that rather than using the word "Capitalist," they should have been more blunt and used the word "Cad."

Chesterton also made some interesting comments in a section called the "Dregs of Puritanism." Chesteron used an example of some Puritan do gooder who whined about cigarettes being sent to the front line trenches for British troops who faced death at every turn. Chesterton commented that shells, bullets, barbed wire, bayonets, etc. were not good for mens' health, but the "good reverend" could not understand this. Chesterton commented that historically some Puritans could read well, think clearly, and write great literature (John Milton). Chesterton commented that modern Puritans could do none of the above. Chesterton commented that modern Puritans could mention Milton, good literary translations of the Bible, but none of the modern Puritans had read none of this. Another interesting comment Chesterton made was the "good reverend" complained about cigarettes being sent to the working class men in the trenches, but this cowardly clergyman did not dare write one work about British women visitng drug parlors. Chesterton asked an embarrassing question of this clergyman. He asked who was going to try to enforce prevention of cigarettes being sent to the front. Chesterton clearly said the good clergyman was to stupid and cowardly to do it and would let someone else do what the reverend was to timit to even try.

This reviewer has been critisized for being lured by Chesterton' rhetoric, and this reviewer stands guilty as charged. This reviewer would rather be enchanted by knowledge, clear thinking, and good writing than cede to the nonsense that goes by the name of journalism and "literature" these days. Chesterton could have been more specific in some of the examples he cites, but his impassioned writing, clear thinking, and incisive/excorating criticisms more than compensate for lack of specifics. Anyone who appreciates honesty and good writing would enjoy this book.

In this collection of pre-World War I essays G.K. Chesterton skewers feminism, free-love, collectivism, capitalism, and the nanny state. The fact that the essays are a century old does not reduce their relevance to today. They do demonstrate how clearly Chesterton understood the problem, and how they would develop in the decades since he discussed them.

Chesterton enjoyed the genuine friendship of those he politically and culturally opposed and his expansive good-humour was legendary. His writings make it clear why he was a hit at any party!

The problems and contradictions of the whole modern age are summed up and explained with all the wit and good nature that G.K. Chesterton is known and loved for.

Those who hold feminism, atheism, relativism, and the other fruits of modernism as unalloyed and highest goods may be angered by Mr. Chesterton, but G.K., who was one of the best at disagreeing without being disagreeable, is never angry and always proceeds in good humour.

The production quality of this recording is very good.

Most book detectives are either professional, or they don't have jobs and do detective work in their spare time. G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown is a little different -- a kindly, sweet little priest.

In Chesterton's second Father Brown book, "The Wisdom of Father Brown," we get a series of bizarre, sometimes dangerous mysteries that Father Brown must puzzle out. Some of the crimes are simple once Brown explains them, but others are devious, chilling things that are wrapped in Chesterton's poetic prose.

We're introduced to Father Brown when he comes into a famous criminologist's waiting room, and tells the man, "You see, her mother won't let her get engaged." The criminologist reluctantly assists the little priest in investigating a bizarre crime, involving a hat, a tied-up man, and a mysterious person called "Mr. Glass." The answer is a lot simpler than the criminologist believes.

In the stories that follow, the priest investigates many other mysteries: a sinister voodoo cult, a nobleman with a deformed ear, a gang of Italian thieves, a lie-detector with one major problem (the operator), a girl who is blackmailed for a crime nobody knows she committed, a burning tower, a murder that may be suicide, and a man who is under a horrible death curse.

G.K. Chesterton liked to write mysteries that were a lot simpler than they appeared to be, or else had some sort of bizarre twist at the end. Both kinds of mysteries show up in this collection of short stories, but only occasionally can readers guess what is going on, until Father Brown spells it out with some little detail of human nature.

And Father Brown is a likable little guy, who looks like an "innocent goblin" and doesn't have to overwork himself to solve mysteries. It's his shrewd brain and rather childlike straightforwardness that carries him through, as well as his uncanny knowledge of human nature ("The reliable machine always has to be worked by an unreliable machine.... I mean Man").

If there's a flaw, it's the rather dated racial descriptions, but those were typical of the time. Chesterton's writing is absolutely exquisite, like poetry rendered down into prose ("Over the black pine-wood came flying and flashing in the moon, a naked sword"), especially in the story where Father Brown and his pal take a cruise through the older areas of England.

"The Wisdom of Father Brown" is a lot like the kindly priest who does the detective -- brilliant, unassuming, and very intriguing. Definitely a must for mystery buffs.

Most book detectives are either professional, or they don't have jobs and do detective work in their spare time. G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown is a little different -- a kindly, sweet little priest.

In Chesterton's second Father Brown book, "The Wisdom of Father Brown," we get a series of bizarre, sometimes dangerous mysteries that Father Brown must puzzle out. Some of the crimes are simple once Brown explains them, but others are devious, chilling things that are wrapped in Chesterton's poetic prose.

We're introduced to Father Brown when he comes into a famous criminologist's waiting room, and tells the man, "You see, her mother won't let her get engaged." The criminologist reluctantly assists the little priest in investigating a bizarre crime, involving a hat, a tied-up man, and a mysterious person called "Mr. Glass." The answer is a lot simpler than the criminologist believes.

In the stories that follow, the priest investigates many other mysteries: a sinister voodoo cult, a nobleman with a deformed ear, a gang of Italian thieves, a lie-detector with one major problem (the operator), a girl who is blackmailed for a crime nobody knows she committed, a burning tower, a murder that may be suicide, and a man who is under a horrible death curse.

G.K. Chesterton liked to write mysteries that were a lot simpler than they appeared to be, or else had some sort of bizarre twist at the end. Both kinds of mysteries show up in this collection of short stories, but only occasionally can readers guess what is going on, until Father Brown spells it out with some little detail of human nature.

And Father Brown is a likable little guy, who looks like an "innocent goblin" and doesn't have to overwork himself to solve mysteries. It's his shrewd brain and rather childlike straightforwardness that carries him through, as well as his uncanny knowledge of human nature ("The reliable machine always has to be worked by an unreliable machine.... I mean Man").

If there's a flaw, it's the rather dated racial descriptions, although those were typical of the time. Chesterton's writing is absolutely exquisite, like poetry rendered down into prose ("Over the black pine-wood came flying and flashing in the moon, a naked sword"), especially in the story where Father Brown and his pal take a cruise through the older areas of England.

"The Wisdom of Father Brown" is a lot like the kindly priest who does the detective -- brilliant, unassuming, and very intriguing. Definitely a must for mystery buffs.

Chesterton's poetry does not quite match the height of The Man who was Thursday, but in pieces like "Lepanto" it is as good as most so-called classics. Try this now!