The Essential Gilbert K Chesterton Volume I

Here are G. K. Chesterton's most influential non-fiction books collected here in one binding. In Orthodoxy, Gilbert K. Chesterton explains how and why he came to believe in Christianity and more specifically the Catholic Church's brand of orthodoxy. In the book, Chesterton takes the spiritually curious reader on an intellectual quest. While looking for the meaning of life, he finds truth that uniquely fulfills human needs. This is the truth revealed in Christianity. Chesterton likens this discovery to a man setting off from the south coast of England, journeying for many days, only to arrive at Brighton, the point he originally left from. Such a man, he proposes, would see the wondrous place he grew up in with newly appreciative eyes. This is a common theme in Chesterton's works, and one which he gave fictional embodiment to in Manalive. A truly lively and enlightening book! In What's Wrong With The World Chesterton rightly points out that what people see as "wrong with the world" are only the symptoms of a deeper problem. He shows that our governments, be they capitalistic or socialistic, also fail to see the deeper problem. With a keen wit and lively prose he cuts directly to the true problems that society must deal with and his solutions feel utterly correct. In Heretics, Gilbert K. Chesterton rails against what he sees as wrong with society. He points out how society has gone astray and how life and spiritually could be brought back into focus.

Here are G. K. Chesterton's most influential non-fiction books collected here in one binding. In Orthodoxy, Gilbert K. Chesterton explains how and why he came to believe in Christianity and more specifically the Catholic Church's brand of orthodoxy. In the book, Chesterton takes the spiritually curious reader on an intellectual quest. While looking for the meaning of life, he finds truth that uniquely fulfills human needs. This is the truth revealed in Christianity. Chesterton likens this discovery to a man setting off from the south coast of England, journeying for many days, only to arrive at Brighton, the point he originally left from. Such a man, he proposes, would see the wondrous place he grew up in with newly appreciative eyes. This is a common theme in Chesterton's works, and one which he gave fictional embodiment to in Manalive. A truly lively and enlightening book! In What's Wrong With The World Chesterton rightly points out that what people see as "wrong with the world" are only the symptoms of a deeper problem. He shows that our governments, be they capitalistic or socialistic, also fail to see the deeper problem. With a keen wit and lively prose he cuts directly to the true problems that society must deal with and his solutions feel utterly correct. In Heretics, Gilbert K. Chesterton rails against what he sees as wrong with society. He points out how society has gone astray and how life and spiritually could be brought back into focus.

Collected here, in one volume are Gilbert K. Chesterton¿s most influential works of fiction. Harold March, the rising reviewer and social critic, was walking vigorously across a great tableland of moors and commons, the horizon of which was fringed with the far-off woods of the famous estate of Torwood Park. He was a good-looking young man in tweeds, with very pale curly hair and pale clear eyes. Harold March was the sort of man who knows everything about politics, and nothing about politicians. He also knew a great deal about art, letters, philosophy, and general culture; about almost everything, indeed, except the world he was living in. In The Man Who Was Thursday we are transported to a surreal turn-of-the-century London, Gabriel Syme, is recruited to a secret anti-anarchist taskforce at Scotland Yard. Syme manages to infiltrate the anarchists and becomes a local representative to the worldwide Central Council of Anarchists. The Council consists of seven men, each using the name of a day of the week as a code name; Syme is given the name of Thursday. In his efforts to thwart the council's intentions, however, he discovers that five of the other six members are also undercover detectives; and they must chase down the disturbing and whimsical man who calls himself ¿The Peace of God.¿ In Manalive we follow the madcap adventure of Innocent Smith. Innocent Smith is a man who keeps the commandments but breaks all the conventions, and while doing so he shows us just how absurd those conventions are. Follow him as he breaks into his own house, and then carries on a torrid affair with his own wife. Enjoy a picnic on the roof and then leave home just for the sake of returning home. A joyous and uplifting book.

This volume contains Chesterton's commentaries and reflections on what he saw on his travels in America and Rome, plus an appendix on how America saw Chesterton. On January 10, 1921, Gilbert and Frances Chesterton began a three month tour of the United States. During their first stop in the City of New York, Chesterton examined the lights of Broadway and proclaimed: "What a glorious garden of wonders this would be to anyone who was lucky enough to be unable to read." In his writing on America, Chesterton shows a remarkable ability for sympathetic appreciation of the principle traits of America. He would acquire an uncanny clear-sightedness about many things in America that it would not be an exaggeration to call clairvoyant. One greatness recognized another greatness, and one can say that Chesterton truly knew something profound about America. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, Chesterton's travels included Jerusalem, Ireland, North America and Rome. This volume contains his reflections on his 1921 and 1930-31 tour of North America and his 1929 trip to Rome. Readers will enjoy the great man's impressions of city skyscrapers, rural America, the politics of Washington, as well as his views of Pope Pius XI, the Eternal City, Mussolini and Fascism. The introduction to this volume was written by Dr. Robert Royal, Vice President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C. The appendix was compiled by the late Chairman of the Northeastern Chapter of the G.K. Chesterton Society, Mr. Robert Knille. The appendix gives the newspaper accounts of Chesterton's 1921 trip to America. It contains generous excerpts of the speeches, interviews and comments G.K.C. made during his tour. Most of the material provided has never appeared in book form.

Compiled in one book, the essential collection of books by G. K. Chesterton Table Of Contents ALARMS AND DISCURSIONS ALL THINGS CONSIDERED THE APPETITE OF TYRANNY APPRECIATIONS AND CRITICISMS OF THE WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE THE BALL AND THE CROSS THE BARBARISM OF BERLIN THE CLUB OF QUEER TRADES THE CRIMES OF ENGLAND THE DEFENDANT EUGENICS AND OTHER EVILS GEORGE BERNARD SHAW HERETICS THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN LORD KITCHENER MAGIC A FANTASTIC COMEDY Manalive THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY A MISCELLANY OF MEN The Napoleon of Notting Hill THE NEW JERUSALEM ORTHODOXY ROBERT BROWNING A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND THE TREES OF PRIDE TREMENDOUS TRIFLES TWELVE TYPES Utopia of Usurers and other Essays _Varied Types_ THE VICTORIAN AGE IN LITERATURE WHAT I SAW IN AMERICA WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE WORLD THE WILD KNIGHT THE WISDOM OF FATHER BROWN

Collected here in one volume are Gilbert K. Chesterton¿s most influential works of fiction. Harold March the rising reviewer and social critic was walking vigorously across a great tableland of moors and commons the horizon of which was fringed with the far-off woods of the famous estate of Torwood Park. He was a good-looking young man in tweeds with very pale curly hair and pale clear eyes. Harold March was the sort of man who knows everything about politics and nothing about politicians. He also knew a great deal about art letters philosophy and general culture; about almost everything indeed except the world he was living in. In The Man Who Was Thursday we are transported to a surreal turn-of-the-century London Gabriel Syme is recruited to a secret anti-anarchist taskforce at Scotland Yard. Syme manages to infiltrate the anarchists and becomes a local representative to the worldwide Central Council of Anarchists. The Council consists of seven men each using the name of a day of the week as a code name; Syme is given the name of Thursday. In his efforts to thwart the council's intentions however he discovers that five of the other six members are also undercover detectives; and they must chase down the disturbing and whimsical man who calls himself ¿The Peace of God.¿In Manalive we follow the madcap adventure of Innocent Smith. Innocent Smith is a man who keeps the commandments but breaks all the conventions and while doing so he shows us just how absurd those conventions are. Follow him as he breaks into his own house and then carries on a torrid affair with his own wife. Enjoy a picnic on the roof and then leave home just for the sake of returning home. A joyous and uplifting book.

G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown may seem a pleasantly doddering Roman Catholic priest, but appearances deceive. With keen observation and an unerring sense of man’s frailties–gained during his years listening to confessions–Father Brown succeeds in bringing even the most elusive criminals to justice. This definitive collection of fifteen stories, selected by the American Chesterton Society, includes such classics as “The Blue Cross,” “The Secret Garden,” and “The Paradise of Thieves.” As P. D. James writes in her Introduction, “We read the Father Brown stories for a variety pleasures, including their ingenuity, their wit and intelligence, and for the brilliance of the writing. But they provide more. Chesterton was concerned with the greatest of all problems, the vagaries of the human heart.”

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. The only problem with Chesterton's essays is that there are too many of them. Over five thousand! For most GKC readers it is not even possible to know where to start or how to begin to approach them. So three of the world's leading authorities on Chesterton - Dale Ahlquist, Joseph Pearce, Aidan Mackey - have joined together to select the "best" Chesterton essays, a collection that will be appreciated by both the newcomer and the seasoned student of this great 20th century man of letters. The variety of topics are astounding: barbarians, architects, mystics, ghosts, fireworks, rain, juries, gargoyles and much more. Plus a look at Shakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, George MacDonald, T.S. Eliot, and the Bible. All in that inimitable, formidable but always quotable style of GKC. Even more astounding than the variety is the continuity of Chesterton's thought that ties everything together. A veritable feast for the mind and heart. While some of the essays in this volume may be familiar, many of them are collected here for the first time, making their first appearance in over a century.

"One of the top 10 Christian books of the twentieth century." --Christianity Today Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) has been called "the ablest and most exuberant proponent of orthodox Christianity of his time." One of the twentieth century's most thoughtful authors, he greatly influenced countless Christian writers including C.S. Lewis and others. Described as one of 10 "indispensable spiritual classics" of the past 1500 years byPublishers Weekly, Chesterton's Orthodoxy offers a unique explanation of the essentials of the Christian faith, and of his own journey from skepticism to belief. "It is constantly assumed, especially in our Tolstoian tendencies, that when the lion lies down with the lamb the lion becomes lamb-like. . . . That is simply the lamb absorbing the lion instead of the lion eating the lamb. The real problem is--can the lion lie down with the lamb and still retain his royal ferocity? That is the problem the Church attempted; that is the miracle she achieved." --from Orthodoxy Every Christian library needs the classics--the timeless books that have spoken powerfully to generations of believers. Hendrickson Christian Classics allow readers to build an essential classics library in affordable modern editions. Each volume is freshly retypeset for reading comfort, while thoughtful new introductions place each in historical and spiritual context. Attractive, classically bound covers look great together on the shelf. Best of all, value pricing makes this series easy to own. Planned to span the spectrum of Christian wisdom through the ages, Hendrickson Christian Classics set a new standard for quality and value.