Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life and Impact of G.K. Chesterton

Regardless of theological bias, no one can help being charmed by the writings of G.K. Chesterton. His Father Brown mysteries, as well as his many works of theology and literary criticism, shine with wit and insight. Belmonte approaches his task of biography with the same fondness for his subject as he demonstrated in William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity. Reading this is a bit like taking a tour of literary and social England through the eyes of a man who lived, and loved, the world around him. And even as we read H.L. Mencken’s barbed comments about Chesterton and Chesterton’s assessment of George Bernard Shaw (“three of the more incandescent minds of the era”), we get lost in an earlier time and world taken with Chesterton’s undeniable brilliance. The articulate Belmonte makes his material sing. Chesterton was that rarity of a man: a convert to Catholicism, whose life can be celebrated by an evangelical publisher. A wonderful book on all counts. (Jan.)