G. K. Chesterton

A WILD, MAD, HILARIOUS AND PROFOUNDLY MOVING TALE: It is very difficult to classify _The Man Who was Thursday._ It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no one else. On this level, therefore, _The Man Who was Thursday_ succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing. However, the reader will soon discover that it is much more than that. Carried along on the boisterous rush of the narrative by Chesterton's wonderful high-spirited style, he will soon see that he is being carried into much deeper waters than he had planned on; and the totally unforeseeable denouement will prove for the modern reader, as it has for thousands of others since 1908 when the book was first published, an inevitable and moving experience, as the investigators finally discover who Sunday is.

Edited by Dale AhlquistHilaire Belloc called "Lepanto" Chesterton's greatest poem and the greatest poem of his generation. But not only have English classes neglected this masterpiece of rhyme and meter, History classes have neglected the story of the pivotal battle upon which the poem is based. This book brings together the poem, the historical background of the famous battle, a riveting account of the battle itself, and a discussion of its historical consequences. The poem is fully annotated, and is supplemented with two interesting essays by Chesterton himself. Well-known Chesterton expert, Dale Ahlquist, has gathered together all the insightful commentaries and explanatory notes. Here is the story behind the modern conflict between Christianity and Islam, between Protestant and Catholic Europe, and the origin of the Feast of the Holy Rosary. A fascinating blend of literature, history, religion and romance "A valuable reference book that is also a great read " --Therese Warmus, Literary Editor, Gilbert Magazine G. K. Chesterton was one of the most prolific and renowned literary writers of the 20th Century. Dale Ahlquist, author of G. K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, is the President of the American Chesterton Society.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: From behind the overhanging rock came a noise and rush like that of a railway train; and a great motorcar appeared. For the fraction of a flash it seemed to leave the ledge of rock like a flying ship; then the very sky seemed to turn over like a wheel, and it lay a ruin amid the tall grasses below. A little lower the figure of a man with gray hair lay tumbled down the steep green slope, his limbs lying all at random, and his face turned away. He was unquestionably dead. The blood flowed in the grass from a hopelessly fatal fracture at the back of the skull; but the face, which was turned to the sun, was uninjured and strangely arresting in itself. It was one of those cases of a strange face so unmistakable as to feel familiar. . . .

"How in Tartarus," cried Flambeau, "did you ever hear of the spiked bracelet?" -- "Oh, one's little flock, you know!" said Father Brown, arching his eyebrows rather blankly. "When I was a curate in Hartlepool, there were three of them with spiked bracelets." * Not long after he published _Orthodoxy, _ G. K. Chesterton moved from London to Beaconsfield, and met Father O'Connor. O'Connor had a shrewd insight to the darker side of man's nature, and a mild appearance to go with it -- and together those came together to become Chesterton's unassuming Father Brown. Chesterton loved the character, and the magazones he wrote for loved the stories. _The Innocence of Father Brown_ was the first collection of them, and it's a great lot of fun. "Father Brown is a direct challenge to the conventional detective and in many ways he is more amusing and ingenious." -- Saturday Review

"G. K. Chesterton routinely ignites more ideas per page than any Christian author of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of C. S. Lewis. Chesterton sometimes overstates, often maddens, and invariably provokes a new and better way of seeing things. In this book, he offers us new ways of seeing the greatest things of all: divine things of the gospel." -John G. Stackhouse, Jr.