Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton

by Joseph Pearce

Through years of meticulous research and access to the literary estate of G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce presents a major biography of a 20th century literary giant, providing a great deal of important information on GKC never before published. This is a thoroughly readable and delightful biography of a multi-faceted author, artist and debater who loved the friendship of children, idolized his wife and enjoyed great friendships with the likes of Hillaire Belloc, Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Illustrated.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, History, Philosophy, Religion, Christianity

656 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic biography. I enjoyed it almost as much as I enjoy reading Chesterton himself (which is saying a lot).

It's worth noting that this is a Catholic perspective of Chesterton. As a non-Catholic, I got the glimpse into Chesteron's spiritual self that I wanted, and a great deal of insight into the difference between us.

I have rarely gotten emotional at the end of biographies. We know, after all, how they all end. But by the time I closed in on 500 pages of celebration of such a brilliant and joyful life, I felt England's (not to mention Frances Chesterton's) loss deeply. I can only say that I am surprised he is not even more widely read and revered than he already is by my contemporaries.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favorite Pearce book! This is an amazing biography. There may have been a few tears in the last chapter.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most delightful thing about this book was the frequent and extensive quotation of Chesterton, which showcased his wisdom and clear perception of the world. Alongside this, the theme of innocence also ran throughout the whole biography, beginning in chapter one with a beautiful description of G.K.'s childhood and its importance: "Whenever the vaunt of woe appeared triumphant and the darkness of despair descended, a gleam of childlight would disperse the shadows. Years later, when the battle was won and the man emerged victorious, he owed a debt of gratitude to the child." (This reminded me of Alyosha's exhortation to the children at the end of The Brothers Karamazov about how one, good, holy memory could be the means of saving them). I loved how Pearce continued to show the childlike wonder G.K. retained through his life - and how the smallest of things could elicit such enjoyment for him as it would for any baby.

[booklady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love G. K. Chesterton as an author and Joseph Pearce as a biographer. They come together beautifully in this book!

[Owen Chamness · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”

Not sure if this was ever even quoted in the bio, but it’s one of my favorite Chesterton quotes and describes him so well. Nothing lacks about this book, but I try to give 5 stars to only my favorite works of all time.

I was vaguely familiar with Chesterton before reading this, and I had the pleasure of reading a few of his works previously. However, Pearce opened my eyes to so much about Chesterton and his ordinary life. Simply put, Chesterton is a masterful author, philosopher, speaker, theologian, and defender of the faith rolled into one (rather rotund) character. I highly encourage everyone to either read him or read of him.

One of my favorite aspects of this biography is the story of his conversion. GKC had been Catholic in his thought and theology for quite some time before officially being received into the church, but his hesitation was that he could not bear to leave his wife alone on the other side of the Tiber if he converted. Further, he himself would not try to sway her, as he desired her to freely choose the Church. Eventually, he was received into the Church alone, but his wife was soon to follow a few years later. Seeing their love for each other grow into a shared love of the Catholic Church was especially beautiful.

If Gilbert never wielded the pen, he would still be a wonderful example of joyful and humble devotion to God, family, and country that all men should seek to emulate. It just so happens that he is also one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

[Sergio Velazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

La vida. ¿Qué es la vida que se ha vivido en soledad? Chesterton nunca se quedó en sí. Nunca busco enemistarse; todo lo que dijo fue porque tenía un deber con la verdad. Uno puede ocultar o blanquear la dureza en ningún asunto de importancia por no querer herir. Mas, hay formas de poner las cosas sobre la mesa. Me trae un poco de tristeza como terminó su vida terrenal porque tiene una relación con la de Belloc, aunque la de Hilaire se fue esfumado lentamente. Se creía inmerecido del amor de su vida y se sentía abismado por el que es el Amor. La vida se resume en esa palabra, pero, no es sólo un sentimiento. Los sentimientos son perecederos y cambiantes, pero el amor desinteresado (llamado comúnmente Ágape) es el que debe envolver todo. Ama a los demás y con mucho cariño hay que advertir cuando un camino no conviene. No nos quedemos callados y dejemos que los demás se pierdan por caminos que sólo llevan abajo y más abajo. El gran y verdadero amigo es aquél que te acoge, aconseja y te acompaña, no el que le importas poco y te deja hacer lo que quieras. Pearce hace un gran trabajo y nos deja una gran idea de lo que es Chesterton, cosa difícil tomando en cuenta quien es. ¡Gracias!

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most in-depth biography of Chesterton I have read, and I have read several including Chesterton's own autobiography.

Really excellent, especially running across details I was unaware of. Pearce is a master biographer.

[Manolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantástica biografía de un genio entre los genios. Amena y se aprende mucho leyéndola.

[Katie Marquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

G.K. Chesterton seems to me, these days, like the lesser-known CS Lewis. He of course had an incredible impact on a young Lewis, and many other writers of the 20th century. Best known now by Catholic apologists, the breadth and depth of his writing in areas outside of religion - politics, culture, art, etc. seem to be somewhat forgotten. Of course, it is his apologetics, most notably in works like "Orthodoxy", that are his lasting legacy. And rightly so. Chesterton was uniquely gifted in this area. Uncommonly possessed with the ability to convey reason and common sense, his contributions to the realm of literature and theology are immense. I have such admiration for him on so many levels.

Perhaps my favorite parts of this biography were getting to know Chesterton a bit as a person. This booming, large, childlike man, who seems to have won the hearts of so many around the world. One forgets how entrenched he was in the literary culture of the time, how in demand he was as a speaker around the world. I'm nostalgic for a time when one could debate one's intellectual opponents with such good humor and respect, as Chesterton so often did.

Many of his pronouncements about the world seem prophetic.. although he died in the mid-1930s, he quite accurately predicted the entire course of world war II. And his observations about culture, family, and the general decline of western civilization... Well they speak for themselves.

I was so moved by his relationship with his wife. If there was any hesitancy in his eventual conversion to Rome, it was only because he did not wish to leave his wife behind in her Anglicanism. It was her after all who first opened his mind to Christianity in its most beautiful, true form. Ultimately she would follow her husband into the Church, an occasion of great joy for them both. Although they hoped for children, it was not to be. Yet, in spite of this heartbreak, the couple was well known to many children around the world, surrogate aunt and uncle. One of the most charming chapters details the antics of " Uncle Chestnut " and his seemingly endless imagination and respect for children. Their house in the country was a point of pilgrimage for many families. The descriptions of holidays posted by the Chestertons were filled with Joy.

If I have any criticism of this biography, it is simply that the last quarter could have been condensed. A lengthy tour of Canada and the United States and some rather monotonous quotes from various letters seem to have been included to fill out the last portion book more than anything else. Otherwise, well written and lively, a sure way to get to know such a marvelous mind.

[Derek Prior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of Chesterton's life and work. Rife with quotations and never before published material.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I cannot help but thinking you were England -- the Merry, chivalrous, simple-hearted, fearless England that I loved." - an old friend's letter to Chesteron

Mention the name G.K. Chesterton today, and most who have a glimmer of recognition will venture that he was a Christian apologist. Chesterton was no theological pendant, however; at the peak of his career, which he still occupied at the time of his death, he was a bestselling author, editor, and journalist recognized by many as something unique. More than that, however, he was fun, with an amiability that led even his antagonists to maintain warm relations with him even as they heatedly debated through public newspapers. Pearce's title, Wisdom and Innocence alludes to a core dynamic expressed in the life of Chesterton -- the embrace of romance and reality, wonder and wisdom, faith and reason. The same man who could earn praise from medieval scholars for his biography of St. Thomas Aquinas and hold public debates against H.G. Wells and Bertrand Russell might just as easily entertain a house of small children single-handedly the same night, with equal joy.

Although Chesterton was baptized into the Anglican church, his parents were merely bowing to social convention when they brought him before the fount and priest; they were hazy Unitarians and spiritualists. In his youth, Chesterton experimented with the occult, becoming convinced that there was something more than the material world, and had a distinct appreciation for what we might now call the divine feminine. Chesterton did not write a Surprised by Joy equivalent about his embrace of Christianity via the Anglican church, but the tipping point occurred when he was beginning to teach and met a young nihilist who believed in nothing, not even the possibility of truth. Judging by letters Chesterton wrote thereafter, encountering this man was a staring-into-the-abyss movement that set him searching for meaning and order. He found it in the Anglo-Catholic movement of the Anglican church, and his sympathy for Catholicism would only strengthen over the years, until he finally converted and became one of the Church's most vocal champions.

Chesterton didn't unsheath his pen only to defend the Church on theological grounds, however. For him, the Catholic faith undergirded western civilization, and even the material expression of society – the organization of the means of production, for instance - -had a religious importance. From an early age Chesterton held the large industrialists of the day in contempt, and critiqued capitalism first from the left, and then later from Catholic theology. Marx may have cheered the fact that the family had been destroyed as an economic unit, but for Chesterton this was the crux of the problem. He objected and resented to the fact that so much land and property were pooling into the hands of a few titanic industrialists and their bankers. To take away a man's economic independence, to reduce him to a proletarian laboring for nothing but money – to force him and his children to abandon a home for a hovel, and spend their energy for another besides improving their own home and familial enterprise, was to undermine human dignity and tarnish a creature made in the image of God. In general, Chesterton found modernity absurd, unhealthy, and (in the case of fascism) regressive. He regarded the strident nationalism of the early 20 century as a return to tribal barbarism, and a betrayal of the cosmopolitan aura of the Roman and Catholic world. His early denouncement of Hitler, at a time before democratic leaders were eying the ill-shaven Austrian with envy for his energy, earned Chesterton kudos after the evils of Hitler's regime became apparent.

Wisdom and Innocence is an incredible biography, a review of not only GKC's life, but his work. Pearce is exhaustive, poring into Chesterton's poetry and smaller stories as well. Pearce also visits Chesterton in the company of his friends and rivals. Chesterton and an Anglo-French writer named Hillaire Belloc were especially close, united in their love for their faith, literature, and wine, and Chesterton himself inspired many who became friends His two chief friendly antagonists were George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, who shared his concern about the power of tycoons but little else. This book is nearly as big as its subject, and well worth reading for anyone who has a serious interest in Chesterton. The depth which it goes into may be a little much for very casual readers, however: it had chops scholarly enough to merit Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn granting Pearce an interview for his later biography, Solzhenitsyn: A Life in Exile.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great biography of Chesterton, and a wonderful place to start my study of the man. Pearce is so thorough in providing the details of Chesterton’s life, but also includes observations on the times that he was living in and how he was received by his peers and contemporaries, while also noting the influence that Chesterton’s work had on the generations that followed him such as C.S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers. It would be hard not to fall in love with G.K. Chesterton after reading such a full and illuminating portrait of his life. I’ll be completely honest, I cried through the final chapter as Pearce described the end of Chesterton’s life and his passing. I had only the vaguest of pictures of Chesterton’s life before reading this biography, but my love for him has certainly been cemented now. His personality and temperament was certainly one that I can relate to, with his child-like wonder, good humor, amiability towards everyone that he met. His indifference to success when he was at school. His disorganization and need for management in his professional career. I also related a great deal to the process of his conversion to the Catholicism, for it seems as if he never had any particular objections to the Church in the first place; he just needed a final push to show him that that was where Truth was ultimately found.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

G. K. Chesterton is one of the most gifted writers who ever lived. I was introduced to G. K. Chesterton through one of my other favorite authors, C. S. Lewis. I had found a list of books that C. S. Lewis considered most influential in his life, and Chesterton's Everlasting Man was among them.

Chesterton had a great influence on my own faith. What I like most about him was that he was a romantic; life was to be enjoyed, and you could find joy in everyday ordinary things. The title of the book says it all: Wisdom and innocence, on the outside seemingly incompatible, but Chesterton showed that true wisdom can only be through through innocence. One of the earliest quotes that captured this for me was in his book Heretics describing (I think) Byron:

We might, no doubt, find it a nuisance to count all the blades of grass or all the leaves of the trees; but this would not be because of our boldness or gaiety, but because of our lack of boldness and gaiety. The bore would go onward, bold and gay, and find the blades of grass as splendid as the swords of an army. The bore is stronger and more joyous than we are; he is a demigod — nay, he is a god. For it is the gods who do not tire of the iteration of things; to them the nightfall is always new, and the last rose as red as the first.

This biography does G. K. Chesterton justice. I was glad to get an idea of the context of many of his books, to figure out their background. One thing I most enjoyed was his interactions with contemporary authors, including among then H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw. Chesterton was always gracious, even when he disagreed: they argued, but they never quarrelled, as he put it.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:



On the confessing of sins:
According to a contemporary critic, it is morbid to confess your sins. I should say the morbid thing is not to confess them. The morbid thing is to conceal your sins and let them eat your heart out, which is the happy state of most people in highly civilized societies.

On standing strong for morals:
It appears to me quite clear that any church claiming to be authoritative, must be able to answer quite definitely when great questions of public morals are put. Can I go in for cannibalism, or murder babies to reduce the population, or any similar scientific and progressive reform? Any Church with authority to teach must be able to say whether it can be done.
But the point is that the Church of England does not speak strongly. It has no united action. I have no use for a Church which is not a Church militant, which cannot order battle and fall in line and march in the same direction.

On "moving with the times":
The Church cannot move with the times; simply because the times are not moving. The Church can only stick in the mud with the times, and rot and stink with the times. In the economic and social world, as such, there is no activity except that sort of automatic activity that is called decay; the withering of the high flowers of freedom and their decomposition into the aboriginal soil of slavery. In that way the world stands much at the same stage as it did at the beginning of the Dark Ages...
We do not want, as the newspapers say, a Church that will move with the world. We want a Church that will move the world. We want one that will move it away from the many of the things toward which it is now moving; for instance, the Servile State. It is by that test that history will really judge, of any Church, whether it is the real Church or no.

George Bernard Shaw on eugenics:
Now when men claim scientific authority for their ignorance, and police support for their aggressive presumption, it is time for Mr Chesterton and all other men of sense to withstand them sturdily.


On dogma:
In truth there are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it and those who accept dogmas and don't know it. My only advantage over the gifted novelist lies in my belonging to the former class.

On salesmanship:
There was only one actor in that ancient drama who seems to have had any real talent for salesmanship. He seems to have undertaken to deliver the goods with exactly the right preliminaries of promise and praise. He knew all about advertisement: we may say he knew all about publicity, though not at the moment addressing a very large public. He not only took up the slogan of Eat More Fruit, but he distinctly declared that any customers purchasing his particular brand of fruit would instantly become as gods. And as this is exactly what is promised to the purchasers of every patent medicine, popular tonic, saline draught or medicinal wine at the present day, there can be no question that he was in advance of his age. It is extraordinary that humanity, which began with the apple and ended with the patent medicine, has not even yet become exactly like the gods. It is still more extraordinary (and probably the result of a malicious interpolation by priests at a later date) that the record ends with some extraordinary remarks to the effect that one thus pursuing the bright career of Salesmanship is condemned to crawl on his stomach and eat a great deal of dirt.

On the problem of pain:
There is no cure for that nightmare of omnipotence except pain; because that is the thing a man knows he would not tolerate if he could really control it.

On "blind following":
If you mean swallow them without thinking about them, Catholics think about them much more than anybody else does in the muddled modern world... It is precisely because most non-Catholics do not think, that they can hold a chaos of contrary notions at once... Thinking means thinking connectedly. If I though tthe Catholic creed untrue, I should cease to be a Catholic. But as the more I think about it, the truer I think it, the dilemma does not arise; there is no connection in my mind between thinking about it and doubting it.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Holy Father deeply grieved death Mr. Gilbert Keith Chesterton devoted son Holy Church gifted Defender of the Catholic Faith. His Holiness offers paternal sympathy people of England assures prayers dear departed, bestows Apostolic Benediction." - A telegram from Cardinal Pacelli four and on behalf of Pope Pius XI to Frances Chesterton upon the news of the death of her husband.

I am so glad that Jennifer and I read this together so that we could sob together.

Finishing biographies is always so painful if the biographer has done their job. Pearce has more than done his job.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a biography about one of my favorite people, by one of my favorite biographers! Needless to say, I am really enjoying this.

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This weighty tome (490 pages of text with another 32 of notes and index) covers the whole life of the great Catholic intellectual of the early twentieth century, Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He enjoyed debating from an early age, often discussing issues with his brother Cecil in their childhood (a habit that lasted). As he grew, Chesterton started writing prose and poetry, along with forming informal societies to discuss literature and sometimes even politics. His way of writing and discussing had two key characteristics. First, he used paradox and common sense often. Second, he used gentleness and charity with all his interlocutors. That's how he wound up being friends with George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells while fundamentally disagreeing with them. The book goes over both Chesterton's public career and a lot of his private life. Pearce had access to a lot of Chesterton's letters and other personal writing, a very large body of material.

Chesterton's journey of faith is also chronicled in a fascinating way. He starts as a searcher for truth coming out of the English Protestant background common to the late 19th century. His pursuit of truth eventually led him to becoming Catholic, though his trip was naturally slowed by the expectations of his family and friends who were less keen on Roman religion. His love for others and for truth made him cautious. When he did convert, he was quite certain it was the right decision.

His brilliant writing style fills the book. There's plenty of quotes, some quite lengthy, giving the highlights of his writing career, showing both his wisdom and his innocence. His style is delightful even when it doesn't quite suit his subject matter. He wrote several biographies though he does not give them the typical historical reviews one expects. He gives more of an impression of the person, what they were like as individuals and how they affected Chesterton's world view. He looked for the greatness in his subjects, not for every last fact or detail of their lives.

This book has the tough balancing act of giving an impression of Chesterton's character and personality along with a detailed historical review of his life. Pearce does a good job presenting both. Chesterton's love of children and of home and hearth comes across along with his desire to present the truth, often in comical and paradoxical ways. Pearce's achievement here is clearly a labor of love, with a great deal of admiration and generosity toward his subject. It's a delight to read even if it is a long read.

Highly recommended to get to Chesterton's life and heart.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

GK Chesterton is one of my all time favorite people ... and writers. His writings were frequently and copiously referenced ... and both his writings and his life call out to all of us to put aside differences, debate and disagree with grace and humor, and experience the joy of being alive . And one can't help but be touched by his deeply held Christian faith ... specifically his Catholic faith.
I love this description of GKC that was written by one who knew him personally:

"Mr. Chesterton is the most conspicuous figure in the landscape of literary London. He is like a visitor out of some fairy tale, a legend in the flesh, a survival of the childhood of the world ... He is a wayfarer from the ages, stopping at the inn of life, warming himself at the fire and making the rafters ring with his jolly laughter.
Time and place are accidents: he is elemental and primitive. He is not of our time, but of all times."
And he truly is a man "of all times" ... One of the things that has so impressed me about his writings is that he addressed issues that are as current today as they were at the time he was alive ie. abortion, poverty, the unwieldy state, the loss of tradition, specifically Christian tradition, to keep morality in the forefront. He is like a prophet ... and yet with the personality of one who lives with perpetual hope and joy.

[Joseph Campagnolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read reviews of this book which complain that the selection of quotations is so large that it seems more like an anthology than a biography. I found this a strength. GKC was not a man of action in any sense other than as a writer, and as he so was so prolific, a generous selection of passages seems quite natural and necessary. Add to that that he is perfectly capable of expressing his views himself with a distinct prose style that was his trademark and a reflection of his distinct personal qualities. Any biographer, therefore, who would explain GKC in the former's own prose to the exclusion of his subject's, would in the case of GKC do the reader and himself a disservice.

A key theme of the book is the assertion that wisdom is founded in an essential innocence. Chesterton's success as a person and as a writer, even as a polemicist, was because his genius understood this from a very early age.

[Leonard Ondigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joseph Pearce did me justice, more justice to guide me into the life of a legend. The legendary letter man whom I adore and respect. This book provides a quintessential insight into the life of G.K. Chesterton, the incarnate of Shakespeare. I enjoyed it from start to the end. The polemic treatise of G.K.C and his friend and for Bernard Shaw were so heavenly full of humor. The poems were so inspiring, so sublime. The works of G.K.C are etched into the hearts of men who loved him, and I am proud to be one. He was the apostle of sanity.

[Bob Lundquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

G. K. Chesterton was born in the middle of the Victorian Age in 1874. Despite that, he developed his own writing and personal style that has intrigued many. He started making money with writing around 1900 and was concerned about the common person and how government works to tamp down on everyone’s freedom of expression. He was a journalist that wrote for many publications including those he edited. He wrote the Father Brown mysteries and was a defender of common sense and attacked both socialism and capitalism. He defended Catholic religious ideas while not a Catholic. His writings tended towards paradoxical and challenged conventional ideas of just about everything, especially if it was modern. Maintaining his friendship with them, he had feuds with H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw and others. He eventually converted to Catholicism as well as his wife a short time later. He left behind a large body of writing that is still being analyzed.

This book is a good narrative of Chesterton’s life and activity. However, much of the writing is taken up with large block quotes from his writings as well as others. This may break up the narrative for many but that is for the reader to decide. It does introduce the reader to how Chesterton wrote and how others perceived him and his writing. Nevertheless, for a large book, the reading passes fairly quickly since it is interesting. A good book for anyone to read to see how even in the early twentieth century, Chesterton identified issues and practices of his own time that still bedevil the present age and the future.

[Sophaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable!
My favourite part was when Chesterton visited Holy Cross College and seven students met him, dressed as great authors. Most especially Dante and Virgil. Dante and Virgil are always a win.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great biography of a towering figure from history. I loved learning more stories which illustrate how Chesterton enjoyed life and did not take himself too seriously. I have read about 8 books by him and this was my 3rd biography about his life and I learned quite a bit of new things about him.

[Maurício Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uma boa biografia que narra sua vida cronologicamente. Com peso maior nas suas poesias.
O que se sente falta é de uma análise melhor de suas obras principais.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

By one of my favorite writers about one of my favorite writers, how could I not love it. It gives one a good sense of knowing G.K. better.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography of the great GK Chesterton. I particularly liked the extensive use of Chesterton’s own writings. Highly recommended.

[Geo Forman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took too long to read a biography of Chesterton. This bio allowed the reader to understand why some of his publications may not be very enjoyable and, yet, he is still so highly regarded, especially 80 years after his death. Many of his novels were a reflection of the period in which they were wrote and do not translate well to later generations. Some were a direct response to another publication or author and that relationship would need to be understood in order to appreciate the work.

I think his greatest contribution was his defense of Christianity and, especially Catholicism. He was a rather late convert and made the final step only after lengthy deliberation. Readers of many of his works can benefit from his arguments that led to his conversion.

Chesterton was also well known for his distaste of commercialism and capitalism feeling they remove people from the dignity of owning their own livelihood. He would be s wholehearted supporter of the current "buy local" movement. He equally despised communism because it advocated no personal ownership of property.

By far, his greatest works were in defense of the Catholic Church. Many of his contemporaries attribute their own conversion to Chesterton.

One of the unforeseen benefits received from this biography was an appreciation of Chesterton's relationships with many more well-known literary figures such as H G Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Evelyn Waugh, C S Lewis, and others.

A surprisingly good book and eye-opening to anyone who knows little about GK Chesterton; someone who thoroughly enjoyed life

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a man I have never met, and this book has made me love him more. G.K Chesterton has been dead for 50 years, yet when his death was reported in this book it brought a tear to my eye. This book gives insight into the man, as well as his writings and is a must read for any fan for G.K. Chesterton.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful biography of a neglected intellectual and all around poly math. Maybe one of the last "great men". I wonder how he would have dealt with the new atheists probably with the same caustic wit which he dealt with everybody. I'm not catholic but reading about chestertons conversion to the catholicism almost makes me want to become a catholic.

[Heather Bain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not want to put this book down. I cried at the end because I felt the impact of Chesterton's life upon me and all those who have been touched by his wit and wisdom. Pearce does a great job in using historical records and written works to give us a broader scope of the person he truly was.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great literary treatment of Chesterton's life by a fellow convert to Catholicism.