G. K. Chesterton : A Biography
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Review
a brilliant ... towering biography (Gary Day, Times Higher Educational Supplement )
This is a brilliant biography for a brilliant man. (Times Higher Education )
magisterial (Matthew D'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph )
a discriminating portrait that does welcome justice to the full richness of [Chesterton's] hitherto undervalued work ... the need for a proper critical biography has long been acknowledged and Ker has supplied it ... for any true understanding of the scope of ... Chesterton's achievement ... Ker's biography will be indispensable (Edward Short, Weekly Standard )
full of colossal wit, wisdom, and common sense...that is this magnificent book (Catholic Times )
superb...absorbing (Piers Paul Read, Standpoint )
this is a full-length scholarly biography that will be indispensable for decades (Church Times )
rewarding biography (Tribune )
Ian Ker provides an account of the thought of Chesterton that surpasses, in its comprehensiveness, anything that has been previously written about him (Bernard Manzo, Times Literary Supplement )
Heroically researched...an impressive...book...that conveys a powerful sense of [Chesterton's] personality (DJ Taylor, The Independent )
handles a complex subject with admirable lucidity. Mastering Chesterton's output is a heroic feat in itself (Peter Washington, Literary Review )
reveals valuable new information (The Times )
Ian Ker's magisterial new biography of Chesterton ... will now do for Chesterton what his definitive biography of Newman did for him ... a major literary achievement ... Nobody who has any interest in Chesterton can afford to be without Ian Ker's book (Catholic Herald )
Ian Ker's tremendous biography is an incitement to read Chesterton afresh ... [it] confirms him as a great thinker (The Tablet )
This masterly biography...has the potential to help establish Chesterton in what Ker regards as his rightful place as a major English author. (Independent on Sunday )
[this] biography ... will help make the case that Chesterton is bigger than the keepers of culture have allowed (National Review )
[this] terrific new biography of Chesterton ... gives us a portrait of the man in full (National Review Online )
detailed and compelling (Chronicle of Higher Education )
Chesterton finally gets the big book he deserves ... a monumental study (National Catholic Register )
magnificent (Irish Catholic )
[a] masterful biography (America )
spirited and ... enjoyable (The Atlantic )
... comprehensive biography ... (The Lutheran )
magisterial ... a splendid book (Touchstone )
This is a brilliant biography for a brilliant man. (Times Higher Education )
magisterial (Matthew D'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph )
a discriminating portrait that does welcome justice to the full richness of [Chesterton's] hitherto undervalued work ... the need for a proper critical biography has long been acknowledged and Ker has supplied it ... for any true understanding of the scope of ... Chesterton's achievement ... Ker's biography will be indispensable (Edward Short, Weekly Standard )
full of colossal wit, wisdom, and common sense...that is this magnificent book (Catholic Times )
superb...absorbing (Piers Paul Read, Standpoint )
this is a full-length scholarly biography that will be indispensable for decades (Church Times )
rewarding biography (Tribune )
Ian Ker provides an account of the thought of Chesterton that surpasses, in its comprehensiveness, anything that has been previously written about him (Bernard Manzo, Times Literary Supplement )
Heroically researched...an impressive...book...that conveys a powerful sense of [Chesterton's] personality (DJ Taylor, The Independent )
handles a complex subject with admirable lucidity. Mastering Chesterton's output is a heroic feat in itself (Peter Washington, Literary Review )
reveals valuable new information (The Times )
Ian Ker's magisterial new biography of Chesterton ... will now do for Chesterton what his definitive biography of Newman did for him ... a major literary achievement ... Nobody who has any interest in Chesterton can afford to be without Ian Ker's book (Catholic Herald )
Ian Ker's tremendous biography is an incitement to read Chesterton afresh ... [it] confirms him as a great thinker (The Tablet )
This masterly biography...has the potential to help establish Chesterton in what Ker regards as his rightful place as a major English author. (Independent on Sunday )
[this] biography ... will help make the case that Chesterton is bigger than the keepers of culture have allowed (National Review )
[this] terrific new biography of Chesterton ... gives us a portrait of the man in full (National Review Online )
detailed and compelling (Chronicle of Higher Education )
Chesterton finally gets the big book he deserves ... a monumental study (National Catholic Register )
magnificent (Irish Catholic )
[a] masterful biography (America )
spirited and ... enjoyable (The Atlantic )
... comprehensive biography ... (The Lutheran )
magisterial ... a splendid book (Touchstone )
Product Description
G. K. Chesterton is remembered as a brilliant creator of nonsense and satirical verse, author of the Father Brown stories and the innovative novel, The Man who was Thursday, and yet today he is not counted among the major English novelists and poets. However, this major new biography argues that Chesterton should be seen as the successor of the great Victorian prose writers, Carlyle, Arnold, Ruskin, and above all Newman. Chesterton's achievement as one of the great English literary critics has not hitherto been fully recognized, perhaps because his best literary criticism is of prose rather than poetry. Ian Ker remedies this neglect, paying particular attention to Chesterton's writings on the Victorians, especially Dickens. As a social and political thinker, Chesterton is contrasted here with contemporary intellectuals like Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells in his championing of democracy and the masses. Pre-eminently a controversialist, as revealed in his prolific journalistic output, he became a formidable apologist for Christianity and Catholicism, as well as a powerful satirist of anti-Catholicism. This full-length life of G. K. Chesterton is the first comprehensive biography of both the man and the writer. It draws on many unpublished letters and papers to evoke Chesterton's joyful humour, his humility and affinity to the common man, and his love of the ordinary things of life.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If like me you only knew Chesterton from the poem,"The Donkey" and the novel, "The Man Who Was Thursday", then read on. This biography concentrates on Chesterton's non-fiction output, and quotes constantly from it. The text is a very accomplished stringing together of Chesterton's own words and although this takes a while to get used to, once you do become accustomed to it, the experience of reading this book is a fascinating one. "G K Chesterton: A Biography" is best read slowly and savoured a little at a time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Best GKC bio BY FAR!
11 Jan 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
EXCELLENT book! I am a big GKC fan and it's the bestI've read--by FAR. What an amazing job of research! Can't imagine how long it took him to compile all the info. I highly recommend this book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Good book, fantastic subject, with one reservation...
12 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This biography is thoroughly researched and well-written. The author's purpose - promoting Chesterton to a more respectable literary rank than he currently holds in public opinion - finds sufficient support throughout the work. No Chesterton fan or fan of literature in general should skip this one.
I have but one reservation. The author relied so heavily on in-line quotations that I thought the world would run short of quotation marks by the middle of the second chapter. I wish the author has trusted his readers to read Chesterton's works for themselves rather than stuff the book with so many words from the man's works (especially his autobiography). Mr. Ker even notes his extensive usage of quotations in the introduction, as though he knew he used more than he ought.
This may seem like a minor quibble but for fans of reading quickly, the appearance of so many punctuation marks is off-putting. (There is a reason James Joyce hated them!)
I have but one reservation. The author relied so heavily on in-line quotations that I thought the world would run short of quotation marks by the middle of the second chapter. I wish the author has trusted his readers to read Chesterton's works for themselves rather than stuff the book with so many words from the man's works (especially his autobiography). Mr. Ker even notes his extensive usage of quotations in the introduction, as though he knew he used more than he ought.
This may seem like a minor quibble but for fans of reading quickly, the appearance of so many punctuation marks is off-putting. (There is a reason James Joyce hated them!)
Great discussion with the author on Mars Hill Audio - hope the Kindle price is reduced
27 April 2012
Format:Hardcover
I heard the author discuss the book with Ken Myers on Mars Hill Audio and wanted to read the book on Kindle, but with the economic times as they are, $35.75 for a Kindle download is a bit much for now.
No doubt the author put a great deal of work into the book, but if it can be priced below $20.00 for kindle, I am sure the increase of sales will make up for the reduced price.
No doubt the author put a great deal of work into the book, but if it can be priced below $20.00 for kindle, I am sure the increase of sales will make up for the reduced price.
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