G. K. Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World (Classic Books Library, 2007) is out in a new paperback edition designed and typeset by Waking Lion Press, sure to please fans as well as newcomers to this wonderful author.Here Chesterton takes a hard look at what's wrong with England in 1910, and his insights are just as true for America in 2007. As Amazon reviewer Brian White says, he "skewers feminism, free-love, collectivism, capitalism, and the nanny state," and the fact that the essays are a century old does not reduce their relevance in the least.
Furthermore, Chesterton addresses the underlying problem, which, in his view is that our leaders no longer put the individual (who is human and therefore sacred) above the social organization (which is artificial and expendable).
The book falls into five 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," each of which has several chapters on a variety of topics.
As White notes, Chesterton enjoyed the genuine friendship even of those he politically and culturally opposed, which may be related to the fact that his expansive good-humour was legendary. "His writings make it clear why he was a hit at any party!"
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