What's Wrong With the World

Author(s)

• G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) has been called the “prince of paradox.” Time magazine observed of his writing style: “Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out.” His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction.

The title of Chesteron’s 1910 collection of essays was inspired by a title given to him two years earlier by The Times newspaper, which had asked a number of authors to write on the topic: “What’s wrong with the world?”. Chesterton’s answer at that time was the shortest of those submitted - he simply wrote: “Dear Sirs, I am. Sincerely yours, G.K. Chesterton”. In this collection he gives a fuller treatment of the question, with his characteristic conservative wit. (Summary by Wikipedia and Carl Manchester)

1. Dedication
2. The Medical Mistake
3. Wanted, an Unpractical Man
4. The New Hypocrite
5. The Fear of the Past
6. The Unfinished Temple
7. The Enemies of Property
8. The Free Family
9. The Wildness of Domesticity
10. History of Hudge and Gudge
11. Oppression by Optimism
12. The Homelessness of Jones
13. The Charm of Jingoism
14. Wisdom and the Weather
15. The Common Vision
16. The Insane Necessity
17. The Unmilitary Sufragette
18. The Universal Stick
19. The Emancipation of Domesticity
20. The Romance of Thrift
21. The Coldness of Chloe
22. The Pedant and the Savage
23. The Modern Surrender of Woman
24. The Brand of the Fleur-de-Lys
25. Sincerity and the Gallows
26. The Higher Anarchy
27. The Queen and the Suffragettes
28. The Modern Slave
29. The Calvanism of To-day
30. The Tribal Terror
31. The Tricks of Environment
32. The Truth About Education
33. An Evil Cry
34. Authority the Unavoidable
35. The Humility of Mrs Grundy
36. The Broken Rainbow
37. The Need for Narrowness
38. The Case for Public Schools
39. The School for Hypocrites
40. The Staleness of the New Schools
41. The Outlawed Parent
42. Folly and Female Education
43. The Empire of the Insect
44. The Fallacy of the Umbrella Stand
45. The Dreadful Duty of Gudge
46. A Last Instance
47. Conclusion
48. Three Notes