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allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
3.0
While it's nice to get a proper overview of all the different subjects Chesterton spoke on in his time, I don't always appreciate Ahlquist's commentary. He jumps to a lot of conclusions with far less finesse and insight than G.K. himself, and sets up a definitive political stance by the book's end that disservices Chesterton's own comments about how conservatives and liberals are BOTH missing the point. ("The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.")
Ultimately, I find myself glad to be done with this book - now I can get on with reading more of Chesterton's actual work, which I just bought a ton of. Woohoo!
Ultimately, I find myself glad to be done with this book - now I can get on with reading more of Chesterton's actual work, which I just bought a ton of. Woohoo!
singerscientist's review against another edition
If the goal of this book is to get a wider readership for G.K. Chesterton's works, this book utterly fails. I am glad that I have gotten a taste of Chesterton's brilliance before slogging through this book. While I am generally able to read philosophy by writers of faiths different from my own, Alquist makes Chesterton seem like a member and speaker for a cult, calling their fellow cult members to remove their children from learning in secular circles, and instead reinforce dogma that is isolationist and unable to take in other views.
Any non-Catholic will have an extremely difficult time reading this book.
Any non-Catholic will have an extremely difficult time reading this book.
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