The Man Who Was Chesterton; The Best Essays, Stories, Poems, and Other Writings of G. K. Chesterton.

by G.K. Chesterton

This is a wonderful Chesterton anthology!

801 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1982

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.

He was 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 weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

Reviews

[Ann]

I look in on this anthology occasionally, and it is fun. Includes such gems as "In Defense of Gargoyles" and "In Defense of Skeletons." Someone pointed out to me that no one is attacking those things, but I don't care. They're weird great essays.

[Jay Pope · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the wittiest, incisive, and observant writers of the 20th century, Chesterton above all else majors in the majors and minors in the minors. This collection of some of his best essays and short stories is a perfect introduction to his work. Reading it now, I am aware of how much more we need to hear from Catholic writers.