G. K. Chesterton

What's Wrong with the World G. K. Chesterton

My DEAR CHARLES, I originally called this book" What is Wrong," and it would have satisfied your sardonic temper to note the number of social misunderstandings that arose from the use of the title. Many a mild lady visitor opened her eyes when I remarked casually, "I have been doing 'What is Wrong' all this morning." And one minister of religion moved quite sharply in his chair when I told him (as he understood it) that I had to run upstairs and do ,vhat was wrong, but should be down again in a minute. Exactly of ,vhat occult vice they silently accused me I cannot conjecture, but I knov of what I accuse myself; and that is, of having written a very shapeless and inadequate book, and one quite unworthy to be dedicated to you. As far as literature goes, this book is what is wrong, and no mistake. I t may seem a refinement of insoience to present so ,vild a composition to one who has recorded two or three of the really impressive visions of the moving million

Table of Contents

PART I-THE HOMELESSNESS OF MAN; 1 The Medical Mistake; 2 Wanted, An Unpractical Man ; 3 The New Hypocrite; 4 The Fear of the Past; 5 The Unfinished Temple; 6 The Enemies of Property; 7 The Free Family; 8 The Wildness of Domesticity ; 9 History of Hudge and Gudge ; 10 Oppression by Optimism ; 11 The Homelessness of Jones; 3; 8; 16; 24; 36; 44; 49; 55; 61; 68; 73; PART II -IMPERIALISM: OR THE MISTAKE; ABOUT MAN; 1 The Charm of Jingoism ; 2 Wisdom and the Weather; 3 The Common Vision; 4 The Insane Necessity; 81; 86; 95; 101; PART III - FEMINISM: OR THE MISTAKE; ABOUT WOMAN; 1 The Unmilitary Suffragette; 2 The Universal Stick ; 3 The Emancipation of Domesticity; 4 The Romance of Thrift; 5 The Coldness of Chloe; 6 The Pedant and the Savage; 7 The Modern Surrender of Woman ; 8 The Brand of the Fleur de L ys; Vll; 113; 117; 126; 135; · 143; · 149; · 154; · 158; Contents; PART III (co1Zti11tted)-; 9 Sincerity and the Gallows; 10 The Higher Anarchy