G.K. Chesterton

Born

in Kensington, London, England

May 29, 1874

Died

June 14, 1936

Genre

Fiction, Crime, Religion

Influences

Charles Dickens, Thomas Aquinas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Browni ...more

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Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was born in London, educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of w ...more

Combine Editions
G.K. Chesterton’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 163,372 ratings · 13,674 reviews · 1,585 distinct works • Similar authors

	Orthodoxy 4.17 avg rating — 30,783 ratings — published 1908 — 1747 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton, Jonathan Lethem (Introduction) 3.83 avg rating — 32,272 ratings — published 1908 — 535 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Innocence of Father Brown (Father Brown, #1) 3.84 avg rating — 13,207 ratings — published 1911 — 1475 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Everlasting Man 4.19 avg rating — 6,899 ratings — published 1925 — 166 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Penguin Complete Father Brown 4.05 avg rating — 7,895 ratings — published 1929 — 176 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Saint Thomas Aquinas by G.K. Chesterton, Anton C. Pegis 4.13 avg rating — 3,622 ratings — published 1933 — 95 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Man Who Knew Too Much 3.60 avg rating — 5,901 ratings — published 1922 — 320 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wisdom of Father Brown (Father Brown, #2) 3.85 avg rating — 4,269 ratings — published 1914 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Heretics 4.18 avg rating — 3,709 ratings — published 1905 — 980 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Manalive 4.19 avg rating — 2,848 ratings — published 1912 — 385 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by G.K. Chesterton…

Series by G.K. Chesterton

Father Brown (5 books)
by

G.K. Chesterton

3.90 avg rating — 32,254 ratings

The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton (30 books)
by

G.K. Chesterton,

Iain T. Benson (Introduction)

4.26 avg rating — 1,079 ratings

Quotes by G.K. Chesterton

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton

tags: life, passion, war

4653 likes

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
― G.K. Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions

tags: cheese, poetry

4519 likes

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
― G.K. Chesterton

tags: books, literature, on-fiction

2408 likes

See all G.K. Chesterton's quotes »

Polls

June 2014 Contemporary Classic -

Which book would you like to read for our June 2014 Contemporary Classic Group Read?

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

66 votes, 23.8%

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

39 votes, 14.1%

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

35 votes, 12.6%

Watership Down by Richard Adams

27 votes, 9.7%

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

19 votes, 6.9%

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

14 votes, 5.1%

The Collector by John Fowles

12 votes, 4.3%

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

11 votes, 4.0%

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

10 votes, 3.6%

Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose

8 votes, 2.9%

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

8 votes, 2.9%

The Sea Wolf by Jack London

8 votes, 2.9%

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

5 votes, 1.8%

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

5 votes, 1.8%

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

4 votes, 1.4%

Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell

3 votes, 1.1%

Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm

3 votes, 1.1%

277 total votes

2 comments

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