Best Selling Books by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Chesterton, in his unimitable way, remarks that “the only way to write a popular history is to write it backwards.” This is somewhat the method he employs in his book, “A Short History of England," in which he aims to show the importance of the populace in history, an importance that is wholly neglected by historians. England, he asserts, was created, not so much by the death of the ancient Roman civilization, as “by its escape from death, or by its refusal to die." For four hundred years Britain was wholly Roman in its civilization. Medizeval civilization arose out of the “resistance to the naked barbarians from the North, and the more subtle barbarians from the East." The crisis in English history, he argues, was not the period of the Stuarts, but the fall of Richard II. following “his failure to use medimval despotism in the interests of medieval democracy." Mr. Chesterton portrays the democracy of the Middle Ages, this civilization being the creation, really, of the people through their guilds and through monasticism which was a democratic institution which the Reformation destroyed.

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. This book, originally part of the ‘Men of Letters’ series, gives a thorough account of his life and creative works.

Short story “The Blue Cross” is Chesterton''s first Father Brown mystery. It introduces the characters Flambeau and Valentin. It is unique among the Father Brown mysteries in that it does not follow the actions of the Father himself, but rather those of Valentin. Brown has been committing acts to draw the attention of the police (throwing soup, knocking over apples, smashing a window) and leaving an obvious trail for them to follow. Valentin takes this opportunity to emerge from hiding with the policemen and arrest Flambeau. Both Flambeau and Valentin bow to Father Brown''s superior detective skills.

A study of the literature of the last century.

As far as sheer cleverness goes, Mr. Chesterton Has attracted considerable attention in England. He was a thinker of some power, he had the gift of clear expression, and what he says was not merely readable but stimulating. In ‘Twelve Types’ he passes judgment successively upon the likes as Savonarola and Scott, St. Francis and Tolstoy, all with the same air of infallibility. Boldness, however, is so rare among the writers of today, that Mr. Chesterton''s very recklessness has won him favor among English critics.

A collection of related short stories by British author G. K. Chesterton. Each story is centered on a person who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means (a "queer trade"). To gain admittance to the Club, one must have a unique queer trade as principal source of income. "Cherub" Swinburne describes his quest for The Club of Queer Trades with his friend Basil Grant, a retired judge, and Rupert Grant, a private detective who is Basil''s younger brother. Each of the stories describes their encounter with one of the trades. In the final story, Rupert Grant rescues a lady from her kidnappers but cannot understand why she refuses to be rescued. The answer leads to the unveiling of the mystery of The Club of Queer Trades. So don''t wait! Scroll up and buy now.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 - 14 June 1936) was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories--first carefully turning them inside out." For example, Chesterton wrote the following: Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. Chesterton is well known for his reasoned apologetics and even those who disagree with him have recognized the universal appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as political thinker, cast aspersions on both Liberalism and Conservatism, saying: The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify such a position with Catholicism more and more, eventually converting to Roman Catholicism. George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton''s "friendly enemy" according to Time, said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius".

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book has been referred to as a metaphysical thriller. Although it deals with anarchists, the novel is not an exploration or rebuttal of anarchist thought; Chesterton''s ad hoc construction of "Philosophical Anarchism" is distinguished from ordinary anarchism and is referred to several times not so much as a rebellion against government but as a rebellion against God. The novel has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges.

The Innocence of Father Brown by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 - 14 June 1936) was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories--first carefully turning them inside out." For example, Chesterton wrote the following: Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. Chesterton is well known for his reasoned apologetics and even those who disagree with him have recognized the universal appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as political thinker, cast aspersions on both Liberalism and Conservatism, saying: The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify such a position with Catholicism more and more, eventually converting to Roman Catholicism. George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton''s "friendly enemy" according to Time, said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius".