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Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc es uno de los escritores ingleses más prolíficos e importantes del siglo XX. Con una personalidad desbordante, no en vano llevó siempre su apodo de "Viejo Trueno", Old Thunder. Fue un agudísimo comentarista social y un maestro tanto del arte de la poesía como el de la prosa. Sus escritos siguen cautivando a los lectores.
348 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2002
18 people are currently reading
212 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Pearce
175 books288 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author with this name on GR
Joseph Pearce (born 1961) is an English-born writer, and as of 2004 Writer in Residence and Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida; previously he had a comparable position, from 2001, at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is known for a number of literary biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views, and now writes from a Catholic perspective. He is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press.
Joseph Pearce (born 1961) is an English-born writer, and as of 2004 Writer in Residence and Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida; previously he had a comparable position, from 2001, at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is known for a number of literary biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views, and now writes from a Catholic perspective. He is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 19, 2021
Such a well written biography. I feel like I know Belloc now after reading this book. The author brought him to life for me and I don’t think there is any better compliment for a biography.
December 26, 2021
Great subject and well handled. Unfortunately, I had just finished the author's book on Chesterton and several passages were repeated almost verbatim. Nevertheless, engaging and covers a good selection of Belloc's poetry and prose during the telling of his story.
June 4, 2012
A fascinating account of an extraordinary character. The account of Belloc and Chesterton meeting Henry Janes, of all people, was quite intriguing. But for the whole of his life he mixed with the widest range of writers and politicians, not to mention priests and prelates, and was robustly controversial throughout.
July 11, 2019
Con mucho pesar y alegría escribo estas líneas; aunque haya pasado más de medio siglo de la partida de Hilaire, debe estar orgulloso del bien que hizo y de lo que ha dejado en nuestros corazones, incluso a aquellos que no tenemos ningún parentesco o familiaridad. Su vida fue un constante ir contra corriente; las modas no se recuerdan, sino las edificaciones que se mantienen firmes con el tiempo. Aún en esos años señiles mostraba un gran cariño y una jovialidad que muchos no tenemos. Su amor por su amada nunca se fue; a pesar de que la vio partir pronto, él nunca la olvido y seguía mostrándole cariño. La vida lo trato mal y él se regocijaba en ella, donde otros no veríamos más que melancolía. Puede ser que haya sido un poco duro en su expresar, mas, se necesitan hombres con vigor en estos tiempos de tempestades y olas desenfrenadas. Sin más que decir, gracias Hilaire por tu lucha y coraje. Gracias por todo lo que hiciste y por hacernos ver que la lucha continúa, y que no estamos solos.
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August 4, 2011Notes for Belloc Review
This really isn’t that great a book--and it’s largely Pearce’s fault. I am saying that because Pearce is actually a good biographer. His biography of Solzhenitsyn is a masterpiece. To be fair, most of Belloc’s life is quite boring. But so is C.S. Lewis’s life. Yet, biographies on Lewis are interesting. What gives? To make an author’s life interesting, while presenting it in historical and chronological context, one must develop his major themes systematically within that chronological account. Pearce did not do this.
Geopolitical Schizophrenia
It’s hard to say whether Belloc had a good eye for international political analysis. On one hand, his blind Francophilia kept him from having a decent analysis on World War I. To be fair to Belloc, though, there really wasn’t a “good” guy in WWI, making moral analysis impossible. Belloc was aware of the following on other issues, but failed to make the obvious connections on the home front. Belloc rightly notes that the British banks funded the Nazis prior to WWII (261). And since the British banks control both Crown and Parliament, then maybe Britian isn’t such a “good guy” after all. That’s the only rational conclusion and yet Belloc misses it. Still, Belloc gets a few points for noting that the Anglo-American banking elite formed something like an international cartel.
While I disagree with Belloc’s analysis of Poland, I do commend him for presenting it along the proper lines. Poland’s location in Europe and her Catholic history meant her geopolitical position was of supreme importance. Unfortunately, neither Britian nor France could protect her. Yet, if Poland fell then Europe was lost. Both happened.
Belloc was absolutely correct on Franco’s Spain. Today’s conservatives have this weird moral aversion to Franco’s “fascism.” Franco kept the Communists from overrunning Spain (one speculates on how a Communist Spain would have changed the balance of power in Cold War Europe.
Belloc also had an interesting and ultimately sane take on the Jews. Belloc decried the barbarism often committed against Jews in the past, yet he pointed out the very obvious fact that the Jews were rarely totally innocent in these pogroms. Jews were overrepresented in every major socialist and nihilist movement in Europe in the 19th Century. Jews were overrepresented in Catholic Poland where they financially enslaved Slavic Christians (Belloc for obvious reasons doesn’t mention this). Does this justify Christian violence against Jews? Absolutely not, but one must immediately ask Jewis interlocutors, “Is there not a consistent variable?”
Is Europe the faith? Belloc’s infamous statement implied that Europe and the Faith are one and the same. Belloc is wrong, of course, but he is more right than some believe. He is at least approaching the relationship between faith and culture correctly. Belloc’s main point was that Europe was founded on Christianity and if Christianity dies in Europe, then Europe will soon follow. He was right, but not for the right reasons. Faith and society are interconnected, yet the Europe Belloc expounds doesn’t have the neat history he makes it to have. The Europe in the pre-schism era (1054 A.D.) isn’t exactly the same thing as the Europe Belloc sees. To be fair, Belloc isn’t a historian of philosophy and doesn’t take note of the major changes in the faith brought on by the High Medieval period’s incorporation of Greek philosophy (nor is he aware of the changes that Augustine’s project entailed).
Is the book worth buying? No. It is worth reading though, but one shouldn’t read it too closely. Much of it is random name-dropping, but there are good points hither and yon.
This really isn’t that great a book--and it’s largely Pearce’s fault. I am saying that because Pearce is actually a good biographer. His biography of Solzhenitsyn is a masterpiece. To be fair, most of Belloc’s life is quite boring. But so is C.S. Lewis’s life. Yet, biographies on Lewis are interesting. What gives? To make an author’s life interesting, while presenting it in historical and chronological context, one must develop his major themes systematically within that chronological account. Pearce did not do this.
Geopolitical Schizophrenia
It’s hard to say whether Belloc had a good eye for international political analysis. On one hand, his blind Francophilia kept him from having a decent analysis on World War I. To be fair to Belloc, though, there really wasn’t a “good” guy in WWI, making moral analysis impossible. Belloc was aware of the following on other issues, but failed to make the obvious connections on the home front. Belloc rightly notes that the British banks funded the Nazis prior to WWII (261). And since the British banks control both Crown and Parliament, then maybe Britian isn’t such a “good guy” after all. That’s the only rational conclusion and yet Belloc misses it. Still, Belloc gets a few points for noting that the Anglo-American banking elite formed something like an international cartel.
While I disagree with Belloc’s analysis of Poland, I do commend him for presenting it along the proper lines. Poland’s location in Europe and her Catholic history meant her geopolitical position was of supreme importance. Unfortunately, neither Britian nor France could protect her. Yet, if Poland fell then Europe was lost. Both happened.
Belloc was absolutely correct on Franco’s Spain. Today’s conservatives have this weird moral aversion to Franco’s “fascism.” Franco kept the Communists from overrunning Spain (one speculates on how a Communist Spain would have changed the balance of power in Cold War Europe.
Belloc also had an interesting and ultimately sane take on the Jews. Belloc decried the barbarism often committed against Jews in the past, yet he pointed out the very obvious fact that the Jews were rarely totally innocent in these pogroms. Jews were overrepresented in every major socialist and nihilist movement in Europe in the 19th Century. Jews were overrepresented in Catholic Poland where they financially enslaved Slavic Christians (Belloc for obvious reasons doesn’t mention this). Does this justify Christian violence against Jews? Absolutely not, but one must immediately ask Jewis interlocutors, “Is there not a consistent variable?”
Is Europe the faith? Belloc’s infamous statement implied that Europe and the Faith are one and the same. Belloc is wrong, of course, but he is more right than some believe. He is at least approaching the relationship between faith and culture correctly. Belloc’s main point was that Europe was founded on Christianity and if Christianity dies in Europe, then Europe will soon follow. He was right, but not for the right reasons. Faith and society are interconnected, yet the Europe Belloc expounds doesn’t have the neat history he makes it to have. The Europe in the pre-schism era (1054 A.D.) isn’t exactly the same thing as the Europe Belloc sees. To be fair, Belloc isn’t a historian of philosophy and doesn’t take note of the major changes in the faith brought on by the High Medieval period’s incorporation of Greek philosophy (nor is he aware of the changes that Augustine’s project entailed).
Is the book worth buying? No. It is worth reading though, but one shouldn’t read it too closely. Much of it is random name-dropping, but there are good points hither and yon.
October 23, 2018
It takes skill to make a dull go of a subject such as Hilaire Belloc’s life. It’s incomplete, cherrypicked, assuming facts from the reader, not nearly as interesting as it could have been, and written by a man who’s clearly more interested in Belloc as part of the Chesterton/Catholic revivalist/1880-1920 Christian author movement rather than Hilaire Belloc as Hilaire Belloc. There’s precious little about his family and personal life, hardly anything contextual about his times, and it assumes the reader knows all of HB’s friends and contemporaries, so it drops names (or sometimes lists of names) into the narrative without any introduction or explanation and goes on its merry way. It’s not a full and authoritative biography, but rather the bits and bobs of his biography which interest the author made into a book. It’s ok, but nothing about Belloc should be just “ok”.
May 29, 2020
If the mark of a good biography that it makes you want to make some change in your own life after reading it, then this was an excellent biography.
September 11, 2025
I first encountered Hilaire Belloc from his Cautionary Tales for Children, poems that would not pass muster with parents today. Shocking and still, somehow, funny. Like the original Grimm fairy tales, they deal with the stark unsentimental facts of life and death.
He was well known for his close friendship and association with G.K. Chesterton. Unlike GKC, Belloc had a bellicose demeanor. He was always up for a provocative debate or a witty repartee with an opponent. This book did not make me love or even admire him. However, I just began reading Belloc's book, The Path to Rome; the introduction alone has given me a renewed appreciation for his wit.
Pearce writes about Belloc's "aggressive Catholicism" - but I believe that it can also be said of Pearce. Clearly, someone who attends daily mass is devout. Everything was seen through the eyes of his Catholic faith. Fair enough.
Belloc was a mentor for many poets, including Rupert Brooke.
Belloc wrote scores of essays, many collected and printed in books. Here are some of his titles:
On Anything
On Nothing
On Something
On Everything
He was well known for his close friendship and association with G.K. Chesterton. Unlike GKC, Belloc had a bellicose demeanor. He was always up for a provocative debate or a witty repartee with an opponent. This book did not make me love or even admire him. However, I just began reading Belloc's book, The Path to Rome; the introduction alone has given me a renewed appreciation for his wit.
Pearce writes about Belloc's "aggressive Catholicism" - but I believe that it can also be said of Pearce. Clearly, someone who attends daily mass is devout. Everything was seen through the eyes of his Catholic faith. Fair enough.
Belloc was a mentor for many poets, including Rupert Brooke.
Belloc wrote scores of essays, many collected and printed in books. Here are some of his titles:
On Anything
On Nothing
On Something
On Everything
January 16, 2022
This was my first Pearce book and I enjoyed the writing. It's not my reading wheelhouse, it's a 380 page biography, but there are no lulls in the read. Pearce clearly loves Belloc - gushes about his verse and prose, some of which I read later and didn't immediately connect with. Belloc is a man that I'd heard much about before I picked up this bio - nearly all of it bad (related to distributivism and as Chesterton groupie), but he was not who I thought he was. His politics don't map onto the US right-left spectrum well. He seemed to be a passionate advocate for workers and the poor for his entire life, yet was deeply conservative, anti-communist, and in some ways anti-progressive. Rather than a man of his time, he was a man for all time - counter-cultural, thoughtful, gifted, and precient. Loved getting to know H.B. in this book and look forward to reading something else by Pearce this year.
March 31, 2021
A well researched biography of Hilaire Belloc. Belloc collaborated with G.K. Chesterton on several books and influenced Chesterton’s writing, Belloc took over Chesterton’s newsletter after Chesterton’s death in 1936, what is interesting the newsletter had been co-founded by Belloc and Chesterton’s brother Cecil. Until reading some of Chesterton’s work, I had never heard of Belloc. Highly recommended...SLT
May 5, 2020
I really enjoyed this book! It’s a well documented account of the life of Hilaire Belloc. Joseph Pearce does a wonderful job of helping you understand the historical time and place that Belloc lived in. Since I have been born and brought up in the state’s I do not know much about early 20th century England, and he does a wonderful job of explaining while also giving background information.
January 30, 2022
Portrait of an very imperfect man, but a man who milked life for all that God made it. For me, it reminded me to smell the roses a bit more. Events were sometimes in random order and sometimes seemed irrelevant, but Pearce painted Belloc’s picture with a liberal amount of detail that this book definitely needed.
July 23, 2018
Now I want to read the entire works of Hilaire Belloc.
July 15, 2020
Good biography of Hilaire Belloc, a prolific writer (poet, essayist, historian, etc.) who is little read these days, unlike his good friend GK Chesterton. It whetted my appetite to read more Belloc.
April 6, 2023
A good biography of a very interesting man and my favourite historian.
January 10, 2015
What can I say? Invaluable yet not entirely satisfying.
As I explain here: http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2013/... Pearce has not really penetrated his subject as fully as he might.
The result is a very readable, well-written book with a lot of good information - but the profound Hilaire Belloc deserves better.
My above review explains in far more depth what I mean. For those who love Belloc as I do I also have a growing archive of articles at the site devoted to him.
As I explain here: http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2013/... Pearce has not really penetrated his subject as fully as he might.
The result is a very readable, well-written book with a lot of good information - but the profound Hilaire Belloc deserves better.
My above review explains in far more depth what I mean. For those who love Belloc as I do I also have a growing archive of articles at the site devoted to him.
January 3, 2015
Read in 2003 and again now- superb both times.
January 28, 2017
No está mal porque soy muy Chestertoniano y me gusta toda esa época de conversiones en Inglaterra.
Pero hay ratos que se hace un poco pesado.
Pero hay ratos que se hace un poco pesado.
March 30, 2019
Well researched, entertaining and informative. Anyone interested in the Catholic revival will probably be interested in this.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews