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Most of us will be canvassed soon, I suppose; some of us may even canvass. Upon which side, of course, nothing will induce me to state, beyond saying that by a remarkable coincidence it will in every case be the only side in which a high-minded, public-spirited, and patriotic citizen can take even a momentary interest. But the general question of canvassing itself, being a non-party question, is one which we may be permitted to approach. The rules for canvassers are fairly familiar to any one who has ever canvassed. They are printed on the little card which you carry about with you and lose. There is a statement, I think, that you must not offer a voter food or drink. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Chesterton handles all things well
G. K. Chesterton is well known as a novelist, essayist, storyteller, poet, philosopher, theologian, historian, artist, and critic.He's less well-known as a journalist these days, yet all evidence indicates that he viewed his work for the various newspapers as his primary raison-de-etre.Therefore anyone interested in exploring the works of this colossal genius should include a sampling of his newspaper columns along with all of his other brilliant books.

"All Things Considered" brings together about thirty columns that Chesterton wrote for the London Daily News in the years before World War I.There's no theme here; as the title suggests, this is a hodgepodge that wanders over everything imaginable.The only unifying thread is high quality.

Chesterton writes about politics.In an essay on canvassing, he ponders some unusual double standards.We mere mortals cannot even offer our fellow citizens food for their vote.Politicians, on the other hand, can allow bribes to run into the stratosphere.We also can't threaten each other.The MPs, however, can threaten the downfall of civilization.Lukring behind this apparent hypocricy is the apparent lunacy of expecting the power-hungry to be the most moral voluntarily, even as the crack down on the rest of us.

Chesterton writes about daily annoyances.While on vacation, he learns that his beloved home at Battersea has been flooded.Far from despairing, he sees it as a chance to look at that home in a new light.Could it be that our daily lives have grown so boring and monotonous that we barely see the things around us at all?Maybe a forced change of scenery is the only thing that can make us look at daily life anew.

Chesterton writes about literature.He ponders a copy of The Eatansville Gazette, a newspaper that's supposed to exist only within the fictional world of Dickens' "Pickwick Papers".Moreover, the imaginary rag was a vile and repulsive publication; why would anyone want to drag it into reality?It seems that two distinct towns are vying to be recognized as the model for Eatansville.In doing so, Chesterton notes, they are trivializing the meaning of the book.

There's lots more considered in "All Things Considered".But while every essay here is amusing and almost everyone is a masterpiece, the selections in this book are by no means higher quality that average for Chesterton's career.Pondering that fact, you may well decide that you have to track down all 4,000 of Chesterton's newspaper columns the minute you finish this little selection. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of G(ilbert) K(eith) Chesterton, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 6645 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
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I propose, subject to the patience of the reader, to devote two or three articles to prophecy. Like all healthy-minded prophets, sacred and profane, I can only prophesy when I am in a rage and think things look ugly for everybody. And like all healthy-minded prophets, I prophesy in the hope that my prophecy may not come true. For the prediction made by the true soothsayer is like the warning given by a good doctor. ... Read more

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Well, if in any woes or wars I bought my naked right to be, Grew worthy of the grass, nor gave The wren, my brother, shame for me. ... Read more

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Amazon.com
If G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith is, as he called it, a "slovenly autobiography," then we need more slobs in the world. This quirky, slender book describes how Chesterton came to view orthodox Catholic Christianity as the way to satisfy his personal emotional needs, in a way that would also allow him to live happily in society. Chesterton argues that people in western society need a life of "practical romance, the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome." Drawing on such figures as Fra Angelico, George Bernard Shaw, and St. Paul to make his points, Chesterton argues that submission to ecclesiastical authority is the way to achieve a good and balanced life. The whole book is written in a style that is as majestic and down-to-earth as C.S. Lewis at his best. The final chapter, called "Authority and the Adventurer," is especially persuasive. It's hard to imagine a reader who will not close the book believing, at least for the moment, that the Church will make you free.--Michael Joseph GrossBook Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Companion to HereticsDownload Description
This book is meant to be a companion to "Heretics," and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book called "Heretics" because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is unavoidably affirmative and therefore unavoidably autobiographical. The writer has been driven back upon somewhat the same difficulty as that which beset Newman in writing his Apologia; he has been forced to be egotistical only in order to be sincere. While everything else may be different the motive in both cases is the same. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it. The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer. It deals first with all the writer's own solitary and sincere speculations and then with all the startling style in which they were all suddenly satisfied by the Christian Theology. The writer regards it as amounting to a convincing creed. But if it is not that it is at least a repeated and surprising coincidence. --G. K. Chesterton. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

Horrible Formatting
This book has THE WORST formatting I've ever seen. It looks like it was hastily put together using Microsoft Word. Very amateurish. The cover doesn't even have the title on the spine, so I can't recognize it on my bookshelf.

The version from BiblioBazaar:
Orthodoxy
is MUCH MUCH better, well worth the extra dollar or two.

GK Chesterton and the Modern
This book is oft' given the quite unfair burden of being compared to CS Lewis' Mere Christianity. They are however very dissimilar.In so far as developing a practicum understanding of the Christian worldview, Lewis should probably be recommended.In so far as dealing with overtly intellectual issues (the collapse of idealism, the belittlement of epistemology, and other modern notions), GK Chesterton should be recommend. Chesterton was confronting the Modernist movement head on. His interest lie with the modernist tendency to think of truth as unknowable or as merely personal preference. It's a stunningly apt response to such trains of thought. If you are in an intellectually driven sphere, GK has a lot to offer. His work is well able to drive people deeper into their intellectual constructed worlds, but I think the sane individual will opt instead to use it as an opportunity to understand the greatness, the vastness, and the utter reality of the world.

Theology with pub cosiness
A nice, quick read with convincing arguments about the inevitable dead end of the "progessive" nature of Evolution contrasted with the "conservative" values of Christianity. Plenty of wit on display and a barbed pen to take on GB Shaw, HG Wells, and Oscar Wilde among other notables. Here's to fairy tales.

Orthodoxy
Chesterton no doubt was a brilliant man! In Orthodoxy he does not write for the common person, but for philosophers and intellectuals who enjoy such semantics. I had wished he had expressed his ideas more simply: i.e. in parables and analogies, like his Lord did, but such is very hard to do! As a preacher of the gospel I was disappointed with much of the book for this reason.

Comparing two classics
Chesterton's "Orthodoxy" and Lewis' "Mere Christianity" are classics of contemporary Christian apologetics. Both write to a similar audience, namely, secular academics. Lewis' appeal was broader, however, for he was reaching out to those people influenced or educated by these academics. Consequently, these books are full of reason and logic but are devoid of Bible quotes. This might dismay some fundamentalists, but this type of apologetic is absolutely necessary. Just as a Muslim will not convince a Christian regarding Islam by quoting the Qu'ran, so, in most cases, a Christian will not convert a secular academic by quoting the Bible. The appeal must be made on common ground, in this case, reason and logic. In this regard, Chesterton succeeds.

That being said, I give the book only 3 stars because of his rambling, time-sensitive style. It is easy for an American reading in the 21st century to become completely lost in Chesterton's quips and references to late-modernity intellectuals.

Lewis' broader appeal makes him more accessible to Chesterton, so I recommend "Mere Christianity" over "Orthodoxy" to the average 21st century American, whereas I recommend "Orthodoxy" to those who are educated in late 19th and early 20th-century intellectualism.

Both books are useful for Christians in developing apologetic skills and for non-Christians, especially seculars, in understanding a traditional, intellectual, and non-fundamentalist brand of Christianity. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

We admire ruined monasteries. Why not ruined men as well?
"GKC" was pushing 30 when TWELVE TYPES was pulled together in book form in 1903. It made his literary reputation among the cognoscenti of England.

His little essays touch on one woman and eleven men. All twelve "types" are well known, although for different skills, including writing, thinking, brooding or kinging it.

Charlotte Bronte wrote of plain people with big, sometimes tortured souls. William Morris found the 19th Century ugly and tried to reshape it in stained glass and cloth to evoke better bygone ages.

Lord Byron wore many disguises, including pessimism. Robert Louis Stevenson was even more a man of masks. Alexander Pope knew, generously, that people worth satirizing had to have a core of value. He made his witty, wise couplets look easy. But no one who has copied him has been remotely so good.

What did Francis of Assisi and Edmund Rostand share? They were great poets, first and foremost. Francis loved life and people more happily than anyone before or since. Rostand's soldiers dying in fear of the crows that would soon pluck out their eyes cheered for Napoleon one last "Vive l'empereur!."

That idlest but most despotic of Stuart Kings, Charles II, was a thorough sceptic. He was not just sceptical about this or that. He doubted everything. Even in turning Catholic and taking communion on his deathbed, he might muse, "The wafer might not be God, similarly it might not be a wafer." Charles's restoration in 1660 was a revolt "of the debris of human nature." Men of the Restoration, weak Epicureans all, were masters of killing time. Higher Epicureans "make time live."

Thomas Carlyle believed his message to be true and important but did not think it important to persuade others. Count Tolstoy saw the simplicity of "mere Christianity" but then tried to codify it in rules. Michelangelo was a friend of the austere Dominican Monk of Florence Savonarola and would gladly have tossed his greatest works into the "bonfire of the vanities" if he thought its flames signaled "the dawn of a younger and wiser world."

Finally, Sir Walter Scott. He is the eternal king of romance and romance touches the deepest core of human nature. First impressions are deepest. And boys are therefore right to pay more attention to Bruce's plume than to his hatreds. Sir Walter tells a story lovingly. He invites us to sip it like wine and not gulp it down like bitter medicine.

TWELVE TYPES is a book to pull out of our pocket when the world grows too much with us. It is wise, consoling, provocative. It is over a hundred years old And don't we all wish that we could write something half so timely! -OOO-

A HEAVY READ, BUT NECESSARY
This is one of Chesterton's smallest books, but boy is it packed with knowledge.If you are considering a career in literary criticism you would do well to purchase this book.At times, because Chesterton can be so deep, it is hard to follow.But there are good footnotes in the back of the book.Read it slowly, and savor every moment. ... Read more

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G.K. Chesterton's View of The New Jerusalem vs. The New Nonsense
G.K. Chesteron's book titled THE NEW JERUSALEM is the only "angry" book this reviewer has ever read of Chesterton's vast literary work. This book is not for the timid or the dull. Those who are serious Catholics, religious Jews, or devout Muslims will learn from this book. Those who religious views are fashionable and politically correct will be shocked by honest language and thoughtful insight.

Chesteton reminds readers that Palestine and Judea (modern Israel)was at one time under Ancient Roman control and during the late 11th. and 12th. centuries under European control. The complex history of the Middle East includes peoples of different cultures, languages, and political views. The fact is that Europeans as well as Western Asians. The Middle East was "the cradle" of early Catholocism, the flowering of Judaism, and the original area of Islam.

Those who are aware of the Byzantine rule know that the Byzantines used the Greek language. Yet, they ruled using Roman Law, and the Greek Orthodox Church was very similiar to the Catholic Church. As an aside, the Greek Orthodox ligurgy and sacramental system are similiar to those of Catholicism. This reviewer is very aware that there are differences which have caused bitterness and schism.

Chesterton chides the British for not knowing little or nothing of the Middle East, and the same could be said of American "experts" whose knowledge of the history and georgraphy of this area is either nil or fabricated nonsense. Chesterton contrasts the vague, undignified language of modern policy "experts" with the clear yet poetic bluntness of the Old Hebrew Prophets whose denounciations was quite understandable by those whom they condemned.

Contrary to modern fads and notions, Jerusalem was and is a place of vivid religious and cultural differences which has exploded at times in violence and bitter clashes. As Chesterton makes clear, modern fashionable Protestantism would never have survived in Jerusalem. Islam, Judaism and Catholcism did.

Chesterton saw the post World War I situation with prophetic vision. He argued that while there was no war, there was no actual peace, and the Middle East was an armned camp. This was a problem for the British who were under the illusion that their inherent superiority and arrogant ignorance would protect them from the realities that Chesterton clearly understood.

Chesterton reserves his most serious writing for Zionism. He presents those of the Jewish faith that they were Europeans or Zionists. Chesterton DOES NOT condemn Judaism. He was critical of what some may consider Jewish Nationalism as compared to Judaism as a religion. By avoiding these issues British, and later American, policy makers tried to exert their influence with little knowledge much to their chagrin. Chesterton argued that Europeans regardless of their religion benefitted from Catholic Canon Law, a gradual respect for legal rights, and the rediscovery of reason via Aristotle and Catholic Scholasticism. The Zionists were forced to ask themselves whether or not they were Westerners. This is still a current debate. Chesterton commented that he had more respect for Jewish radicals who championed the rights of the poor than he had for the wealthy plutocrats, Jewish or not.

G.K. Chesterton knew that after World War I, the Middle East was a political powder keg. One weakness of this book is that Chesterton could have critisized the Balfour Declaration (1917) which was so poorly written and vague that both Arabs and Jewish Zionists could use it to justify their political aspirations. An Ancient Hebrew Prophet would have been much clearer and succinct.

G.K. Chesterton defends his views from a Catholic point of view. THE NEW JERUSALEM is a well written and blunt assessment of the Middle East that thoughtful men (there are so few of such men) will have a better understanding of the historical drama (a tragic historical drama)that is evolving. What is more tragic is that sensible men were avoided or ignored when something could have been done during and just after World War I. But men in power were and are seldom sensible.

The New Jerusalem is an invaluable addition to collective understanding
The New Jerusalem reprints G. K. Chesterton's classic travelogue in which he sought to better understand the Middle East in the years following World War I. Nearly three decades before the creation of the State of Israel, Chesterton observed the Christians, Jews, and Muslims of Palestine; his unvarnished conclusions are presented at face value, without any allowances for political correctness or other modern contrivances. In addition to his blunt assessments and judgments are also a wonder of firsthand description and depiction of ordinary people surviving day-to-day life, and evidence of seekers searching the holy land for revelation, and extended philosophical speculation concerning the ancient histories destinies of races and faiths of people. Though limited by Chesterton's individual perspective and opinions, The New Jerusalem is an invaluable addition to collective understanding concerning Palestine and how it was viewed by individuals and religious organizations nearly a century ago.

A different side of Chesterton
When G. K . Chesterton published The New Jerusalem he was called an anti Semite. He denied it but after reading the book it's pretty clear that Jews were not his favorite people. He refers to the poor newly arrived immigrant Jews as tacky to the point of hideousness and showered contempt on the sophisticated fully assimilated upper class London Jews. He even goes as far as to opine that had a great disaster had befallen England during Benjamin Disraeli's years as prime minister, Disraeli (because he was Jewish) probably would've sailed off to America or somewhere else without a thought for England. That's harsh.

Chesterton also had sour things to say about Orthodox Christians. His comments on the religious Jews of Jerusalem are a little kinder or at least less mean but his only real admiration seems to have been for the Muslims of what was then called Palestine. He seems to have viewed them like we view wild lions today. You can't help but be awed by the beasts but you also know that if that they're dangerous.

Finally, this cold, gloomy book makes a startling prediction that has, alas, come horriblytrue. Chesterton bluntly stated that the area known as Palestinewashopelessly divided if a Jewish state was ever established there the local Arabs would fight it.

Please don't come to this book looking for the cuddly fellow who wrote the Father Brown stories because he is not here.

Excellent writing and wit
G.K. Chesterton displays his level of wit and insights into Palestine.His candid views are presented here in a style that is fresh and interesting to modern readers.I highly recommend "The New Jerusalem". ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The German Emperor has reproached this country with allying itself with "barbaric and semi-oriental power." We have already considered in what sense we use the word barbaric: it is in the sense of one who is hostile to civilisation, not one who is insufficient in it. But when we pass from the idea of the barbaric to the idea of the oriental, the case is even more curious. There is nothing particularly Tartar in Russian affairs, except the fact that Russia expelled the Tartars. The eastern invader occupied and crushed the country for many years; but that is equally true of Greece, of Spain, and even of Austria. ... Read more

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G.K. Chesterton's collected essays on subjects ranging from detective stories and penny dreadfuls to heraldry and patriotism. The essays originally appeared in "The Speaker" but were edited and revised for republication. ... Read more

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That great Englishman Charles Fox, who was as national as Nelson, went to his death with the firm conviction that England had made Napoleon. He did not mean, of course, that any other Italian gunner would have done just as well; but he did mean that by forcing the French back on their guns, as it were, we had made their chief gunner necessarily their chief citizen. Had the French Republic been left alone, it would probably have followed the example of most other ideal experiments; and praised peace along with progress and equality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Exceptional analysis of England's role in developing World War I
This book was written by Chesterton during World War I to show that the war was, in part, England's fault for supporting Prussia and allowing her to get away with almost anything.His purpose is summed up very well in the first chapter, which is a letter to Professor Whirlwind, a German/Prussian supporter and writer.Chesterton says:
"There is a very great deal that is really wrong with England, and it ought not to be forgotten even in the full blaze of your marvellous mistakes. I cannot have my countrymen tempted to those pleasures of intellectual pride which are the result of comparing themselves with you. The deep collapse and yawning chasm of your ineptitude leaves me upon a perilous spiritual elevation."

This then, is what he attempts to do:to show that England should not be smug and think themselves simply the defenders of humanity (though they may be that), but England should realize that they helped Prussia come to power, and they dealt poorly with the French Revolution and Napoleon, which let to some serious problems in Chesterton's day.Also, Chesterton blasts England for their poor treatment of the Irish, which were at the time involved in the home rule movement.

Why does Chesterton do all of this?He think it is patriotic.He said in an essay entitled A Defense of Patriotism (found in his first book of essays entitled The Defendant) that "love is not blind...love is vigilant."He thought, I think correctly, that if one really loves their country one will do what is best for it, not simply say it is the best.And sometimes what is best for it is to tell it that it has made mistakes, so that it will not make them again.Chesterton says near the end of the book that "I have passed the great part of my life in criticizing and condemning the existing rulers and institutions of my country:I think it is infinitely the most partiotic thing that a man can do."

This book gives an excellent glimpse into the situation in England during World War I, as well as an excellent view of what Chesterton considered patriotism to be.Of course, it is filled with witty and deep remarks, as all of Chesterton's works are.

Overall grade:A ... Read more

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Chesterton's brilliant wit here satirizes the popular conception and methods of a master sleuth--such as Sherlock Holmes--giving the reader a series of entertaining and unforgettable stories. "Funmaking of the most fantastic kind".--New York Times ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Funny and quick romp, though not his best.
G.K. is witty, and even his weaker works will still make you laugh out loud.This book is no different, a parody of the classic Sherlock Holmes type deductive reasoning.They are really several sub-stories that all merge together for a fitting conclusion, involving the queerest trade of them all.A lot of G.K.'s familiar themes are here, such as emphasis on atmosphere as opposed to details, and how things seemingly ridiculous not only make sense, but are actually necessary.Probably not the best place to start with his works, but if you're a fan these short stories will not disappoint.

Clever and Entertaining
This is a nice collection of stories, all well done in Chesterton's infectious style.There are little bits of social dogma stuffed into the margins, but the stories are primarily amusements.

One odd note - this edition of the book contains some very strange artifacts - noticably occasions where the word "die" is substituted for the word "the".Almost as if it were translated from German and somebody missed a few articles.There were several other instances, which I've forgotten, but the number of errors in the text is surprising.The binding is also not vey sturdy - it's pretty clear that this Elibron Classics edition has been rapidly put together and not intended to last through more than one or two readings.

Join the club
G.K. Chesterton always had a knack for making ominous situations that turned out to be... pretty normal. And that's what "The Club of Queer Trades" is all about, a string of Sherlock-Holmes-style mysteries that spoof the elaborate deduction process. And show readers some of the bizarrest jobs Chesterton could think of.

The book introduces us to Basil Grant, a judge who came to realize that law and justice aren't the same thing, and who ended up giving sentences like "Get a soul" before leaving the courtroom. Then his detective brother Rupert introduces him to Major Brown, an army officer who suspects that his neighbor is plotting to kill him. It isn't too surprising, since there are pansies spelling out "Death to Major Brown."

But with his deductive processes, Basil reveals the bizarre truth behind the Major's problem: an adventure company which is part of the Club of Queer Trades, a "society consisting exclusively of people who have invented some new and curious way of making money."

Throughout the stories, he, Rupert and the narrator encounter other people who have found weird ways of making a living: an ex-lieutenant who seems to be telling tall tales, the "the wickedest man in England," an Essex vicar who was kidnapped by men disguised as old ladies, a dancing professor who has apparently lost his mind, and finally a lady being imprisoned in a basement who flat out refuses to leave -- and it may have something to do withBbasil.

Only the guy behind "The Man Who Was Thursday" could pull off a book like "The Club of Queer Trades," or a concept like the club itself. And as an added humorous twist, this book is apparently meant as a sort of spoof to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries -- Rupert is sort of Holmesian in his elaborate deductions, but he never gets it right.

These are some of Chesterton's frothier stories, but he still peppers his stories with little moral and philosophical moments ("they have not merely no notion, they have an elaborately false notion of what the words mean"), but never enough to bog down the light banter and funny action scenes. And there are moments of Chesterton's prose that are pure poetry ("... a mystic, elvish, nocturnal hunting").

Basil himself is a bit of a know-it-all, but at least he's a funny, slightly offbeat one, and perfectly at ease with talking to a tied-up criminal about Darwinism. His brother Rupert introduces himself as being a detective, but gets more and more upset as the book goes on, until he desperately grasps at the idea of a villainous milkman giving "secret signs."

"The Club of Queer Trades" is a deliciously quirky little book, and leaves readers wishing that they could hear a few more tales of these wonky jobs. Definitely worth employing.

Awful Disappointment for Chesterton Fans
These six stories are completely missable for fans of the "Father Brown" tales.The "detective" here is Basil Grant, and he's omniscient and uninteresting-- he has no detecting to do since he just seems to "know" what's going on long before his dopy pals Rupert and Charles Swinburne.

I'm a big fan of the Holmes and Raffles and Thinking Machine stories, as well as all of the Father Browns.But these clunkers have no place in any canon of Victorian or post-Victorian detective/crime fiction.

Give this a miss.

A Unique Chestertonian Gem
There's not another book out there like The Club of Queer Trades. It's a short collection of mysteries, all of which center around people who have unique jobs. Each story is original and clever and funny, totally unlike other mysteries you may have read. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the stories play as a counterpoint to the Sherlock Holmes stories. The incomparable Basil Grant solves these cases with his own otherworldly wisdom.

I couldn't escape the notion, either, that these stories weren't simply entertainments. There are brief moments of pure poetry where it seems that Chesterton is more concerned with writing a parable than with writing a mystery. Or, perhaps, he's just suggesting another sort of mystery. Anyway, this was a great read for so many reasons. It's a can't miss for Chesterton fans.
... Read more

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So it was, certainly, with the Bastille. The destruction of the Bastille was not a reform; it was something more important than a reform. It was an iconoclasm; it was the breaking of a stone image. The people saw the building like a giant looking at them with a score of eyes, and they struck at it as at a carved fact. For of all the shapes in which that immense illusion called materialism can terrify the soul, perhaps the most oppressive are big buildings. Man feels like a fly, an accident, in the thing he has himself made. It requires a violent effort of the spirit to remember that man made this confounding thing and man could unmake it. ... Read more