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The Story of the Family book cover
The Story of the Family
G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens
2022
First Published
4.38
Average Rating
229
Number of Pages
"The disintegration of rational society started in the drift from the hearth and the family", wrote G. K. Chesterton in 1933. "The solution must be a drift back." In a world that has lost touch with normality, it takes a pioneer to rediscover the wonders of the normal. This masterful compilation of texts and quotes from the prolific G. K. Chesterton, edited by Dale Ahlquist, illustrates the glory of the family—the heritage of romance, love, marriage, parenthood, and home. It is a hymn in praise of the saucepan, the kettle, the hairbrush, the umbrella stand, what Chesterton calls "the brave old bones of life". With piercing wit, the English writer pits all these venerable truths against the fashions of divorce, contraception, and abortion, along with the troubling philosophies that have afflicted education and the workplace since the early twentieth century. Society is built on the family, in all its unglamorous beauty, and Chesterton helps readers to see this reality with fresh eyes. As he "The first things must be the very fountains of life, love and birth and babyhood; and these are always covered fountains, flowing in the quiet courts of the home."
Avg Rating
4.38
Number of Ratings
55
5 STARS
51%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
7%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
2%
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Author

G.K. Chesterton
G.K. Chesterton
Author · 176 books

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic. He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly. Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

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