Gilbert Keith Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton was a master essayist. But reading his essays is not just an exercise in studying a literary form at its finest, it is an encounter with timeless truths that jump off the page as fresh and powerful as the day they were written. Three of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton have joined together to select the "best" Chesterton essays to compile this volume.

The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton

In Defense of Sanity

This definitive collection of fifteen Father Brown stories includes such classics as The Blue Cross, The Secret Garden, and The Paradise of Thieves.

The Essential Tales

Father Brown

Traces the life of St. Francis and relates how the pervasive faith of medieval times influenced his devotion to God and the religious life. Reprint.

St. Francis of Assisi

During the first three decades of the twentieth century, eugenics, the scientific control of human breeding, was a popular cause within enlightened and progressive segments of the English-speaking world. The New York Times eagerly supported it, gushing about the wonderful "new science." Prominent scientists, such as the plant biologist Luther Burbank, were among its most enthusiastic supporters. And the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations generously funded eugenic research intended to distinguish the 'fit' from the 'unfit.'

An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State

Eugenics and Other Evils

Queer Feet (Penguin Classics)

The Everlasting Man

Charles Dickens a Critical Study

The Complete Father Brown

Father Brown's powers of detection allow him to sit beside the immortal Holmes but he is also, to quote Rufus King, 'in all senses a most pleasantly fascinating human being.' You will be enchanted by the scandalously innocent man of the cloth, with the umbrella, who exhibits such uncanny insight into ingeniously tricky human problems.

The Innocence of Father Brown

The Annotated

Heretics

Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than the extraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word "orthodox." In former days the heretic was proud of not being a heretic. It was the kingdoms of the world and the police and the judges who were heretics. He was orthodox. He had no pride in having rebelled against them; they had rebelled against him. The armies with their cruel security, the kings with their cold faces, the decorous processes of State, the reasonable processes of law-all these like sheep had gone astray. The man was proud of being orthodox, was proud of being right. If he stood alone in a howling wilderness he was more than a man; he was a church. He was the centre of the universe; it was round him that the stars swung. All the tortures torn out of forgotten hells could not make him admit that he was heretical. But a few modern phrases have made him boast of it. He says, with a conscious laugh, "I suppose I am very heretical," and looks round for applause. The word "heresy" not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word "orthodoxy" not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less for whether they are philosophically right. For obviously a man ought to confess himself crazy before he confesses himself heretical. The Bohemian, with a red tie, ought to pique himself on his orthodoxy. The dynamiter, laying a bomb, ought to feel that, whatever else he is, at least he is orthodox.

(G K Chesterton Masterpiece Collection)

The Poet and the Lunatics

Heretics/Orthodoxy (Nelson's Royal Classics)

These are just some of the problems for Father Brown to solve. In his inimitable way, this gentle, eccentric little cleric-detective sets about unravelling the threads of a colourful skein of mysteries. In the course of the investigations Father Brown travels all over the world.

The Secret of Father Brown

George Bernard Shaw (Chesterton's Biographies)

What's Wrong with the World

From the introduction: "I publish these essays at the present time for a particular reason connected with the present situation; a reason which I should like briefly to emphasise and make clear. Though most of the conclusions, especially towards the end, are conceived with reference to recent events, the actual bulk of preliminary notes about the science of Eugenics were written before the war ...."

William Blake (Chesterton's Biographies)

Is magic real? That's the theme of this delightful play from the popular writer, G. K. Chesterton. First performed in 1913, it was so successful that it ran for over a hundred nights. The play is now in public domain, so you need no one's permission to perform it. This ebook is a facsimile of the first published edition of the play and is released under a Creative Commons license, which means you can freely print copies for all the cast or for everyone in a drama class.

Magic: A Fantastic Comedy

In this volume Mr. Chesterton has tackled with his customary gaiety of heart and uncanny shrewdness of eye and hand no less a trinity than socialism, woman's suffrage, and the new education. He begins by proclaiming that what is wrong with the world is chieﬂy that we have got out of the habit or asking what is right before we begin the diagnosis of the evil and the eager advocacy of a remedy. His method is his favorite one of accepting the stock retorts of his adversaries at their face value, and proceeding to discover in these the ultimate conﬁrmation of his own views and the utter confounding of theirs. All over, this book is full of brilliant, paradoxical and entertaining essays.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

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