What's Wrong with the World
by G. K. Chesterton
List Price:
Our Price: $8.17
You Save: $6.78 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.75 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: G. K. ChestertonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-10
ISBN: 0898704898
Number of pages: 200
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Book Reviews of What's Wrong with the World
Book Review: 'We shall certainly make fools of ourselves; that is what is meant by philosophy.'
Summary: 4 Stars
'The only way to discuss the social evil is to get at once to the social ideal. We can all see the national madness; but what is national sanity? I have called this book "What Is Wrong with the World?" and the upshot of the title can be easily and clearly stated. What is wrong is that we do not ask what is right."
- from "The Medical Mistake", herein (Chesterton's chapter on the perils of trying to overextend biological metaphors in analyzing societies - not that he doesn't do it himself later)
Having bought this book, one of Chesterton's non-fictional works on what might be called philosophy (he himself refers to "modern social inquiry") some years ago, I had not read it properly until just recently, because every time I attempted to tackle it, I made the error of dipping into one of the sections detailing Chesterton's opinions on women's rights, then setting the book aside in frustrated annoyance.
Nevertheless, I have to recommend the book, though not offering any blanket endorsement of Chesterton's opinions as expressed in it. You may well ask why; I will show you rather than tell you.
'I originally called this book "What is Wrong," and it would have satisfied your sardonic temper to note the number of misunderstandings that arose from the use of the title. Many a mild lady visitor opened her eyes when I remarked casually, "I have been doing 'What is Wrong' all this morning." And one minister of religion moved quite sharply in his chair when I told him (as he understood it) that I had to run upstairs and do what was wrong, but should be down again in a minute. Exactly of what occult vice they silently accused me I cannot conjecture, but I know of what I accuse myself; and that is, of having written a very shapeless and inadequate book, and one quite unworthy to be dedicated to you. As far as literature goes, this book is what is wrong, and no mistake."
- from the author's dedication
However wrong-headed I consider some of Chesterton's opinions, how can I help but be disarmed by someone with a sense of humour like that, who can write like that?
More - even where I disagree with him, his arguments are worth reading, though I would not draw the same inferences he does, and itch to counter-argue where I think his initial assumptions have led him astray (not least by digging into some of my better books about what the Victorian era was *really* like underneath the gilded mythology that has grown up around it, both that current at the time and that in force now). Chesterton as a whole isn't simple to classify; someone who agrees with him on one subject may disagree on another, and he may start from a premise the reader disagrees with, follow it up with a logical fallacy or improperly drawn analogy, then jump into a pretty penetrating analysis (and the reverse situation also occurs, in which a weak analysis follows stronger groundwork). This man bears very careful reading.
To take one example, "The old hypocrite...was a man whose aims were really worldly and practical, while he pretended that they were religious. The new hypocrite is one whose aims are really religious, while he pretends that they are worldly and practical." Chesterton was a staunch Creationist, and could make rather disparaging remarks about science, while at the same time favouring open vigorous controversy and logical argument.
To place the book somewhat in context, when it was first published in June of 1910, Queen Victoria had died only nine years before, her son was in the last year of his reign, and women could attend university at Oxford and Cambridge but were not permitted to take degrees. This edition is annotated with footnotes for now-historical references that were current at the time of the book's original publication, mostly in the matter of the names of individual people and political parties; however, many of the footnotes are so terse that they only provide enough information for the reader to look up the information elsewhere (e.g. by providing someone's full name and birth/death dates, identifying them as a writer, then leaving the reader to find out what the writer wrote *about*, why Chesterton brought him up). The terseness of the footnotes has some charm - the editors thus avoid projecting onto Chesterton anything but what can be very impartially annotated.
The book is divided into five main sections: "The Homelessness of Man", "Imperialism, or the Mistake About Man", "Feminism, or the Mistake About Woman", "Education: Or the Mistake About the Child", and "The Home of Man" (not counting the author's notes at the end of the book). The first, third, and fourth sections take up three-quarters of the text, but there is some crossover between them, particularly on education and relationships between the sexes. Each section is broken up into several (4 - 14) chapters, so a much wider variety of topics are covered than may at first be apparent, ranging from science fiction to chivalry (in several senses).
Worth reading, even if you only want to disagree with an opponent with a considerable mastery of language. It's hard going in places, which I down less to philosophical disagreements between reader and writer but to the fact that he's operating from a cultural context that's just similar enough to the present day for the dissonance to be particularly severe when it crops up.
Religion & Spirituality Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Religion & Spirituality Books
The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus: The Definitive Collection of Mystical Gospels and Secret Books about Jesus of Nazarethby Marvin W. Meyer
HarperOne; Published: 2005-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.69
Price in other shops:
The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ....by Rodney Stark
HarperOne; Published: 1997-05-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddessby Starhawk
HarperCollins; Published: 1981-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Primal Myths: Creation Myths Around the Worldby Barbara C. Sproul
HarperOne; Published: 1979-12-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.64
Price in other shops:
A Hunger for Healing: The Twelve Steps As A Classic Model For Christian Spiritual Growthby Keith Miller
HarperSanFrancisco; Published: 1991-04-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.09
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminineby Sue Monk Kidd
HarperOne; Published: 1996-05-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Re-Discovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist Indiaby Rodger Kamenetz
HarperOne; Published: 1995-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.48
Price in other shops:
The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital : The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C.by David Ovason
Harper; Published: 2000-07-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $38.95
Denying the Holocaustby Deborah E. Lipstadt
Free Press; Published: 1993-06-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Complete Idiot's Guide To T'ai Chi & Qigongby Bill Douglas
Alpha Books/Pearson Ed.; Published: 1999; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.93
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
G. K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Senseby Dale Ahlquist
Ignatius Press; Ignatius Press; Published: 2003-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
The Ball and the Cross: Centennial Editionby G. K. Chesterton
CreateSpace; Published: 2010-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.07
Price in other shops:
All Things Consideredby G. K. Chesterton
Echo Library; Published: 2006-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.91
Price in other shops:
The Complete Father Brown Storiesby G. K. Chesterton
Wordsworth Editions Ltd; Published: 1992-01-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.84
Price in other shops:
Manalive (Hilarious Stories)by G. K. Chesterton
Dover Publications; Published: 2000-11-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops:
The Everlasting Manby Gilbert K. Chesterton
Wilder Publications; Published: 2008-11-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.17
Price in other shops:
Hereticsby G. K. Chesterton
CreateSpace; Published: 2011-02-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops:
Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chestertonby Dale Ahlquist
Ignatius Press; Ignatius Press; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
Orthodoxyby G. K. Chesterton
Simon & Brown; Published: 2011-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
The Everlasting Manby G.K. Chesterton
Unabridged Books; Published: 2011-05-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops: