ABSTRACT
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in Kensington, England on May 29, 1874, to Edward and Marie Chesterton. He was the middle child of three, and his upbringing was that of comfortable middle-class family. Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s School in London and later studied art at The Slade School. He married Frances Blogg on June 28, 1901, and the marriage was a happy one. His writing career began during his schooldays and continued unabated throughout his life. The most striking feature of Chesterton’s writing is its sheer volume and variety. Between the publication of his fi rst book in 1900 and his death on June 14, 1936, he produced one hundred books and innumerable articles.1 The most important infl uence on Chesterton’s intellectual life was his search for a creed to give coherence to his life. He found it in the Catholic Church and, after his conversion in 1922, became an apologist for his new faith. His writing comprises history, poetry, novels, literary criticism, biography, essays, detective stories, plays, and short stories. This book is primarily concerned with his philosophy of history as it is expressed through a selection of his critical and creative work.
