The Story of the Family: G.K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens

by G. K. Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist (Editor)

Overview

"The disintegration of rational society started in the drift from the hearth and the family", wrote G. K. Chesterton in 1933. "The solution must be a drift back."

In a world that has lost touch with normality, it takes a pioneer to rediscover the wonders of the normal. This masterful compilation of texts and quotes from the prolific G. K. Chesterton, edited by Dale Ahlquist, illustrates the glory of the family—the heritage of romance, love, marriage, parenthood, and home. It is a hymn in praise of the saucepan, the kettle, the hairbrush, the umbrella stand, what Chesterton calls "the brave old bones of life". With piercing wit, the English writer pits all these venerable truths against the fashions of divorce, contraception, and abortion, along with the troubling philosophies that have afflicted education and the workplace since the early twentieth century.

Society is built on the family, in all its unglamorous beauty, and Chesterton helps readers to see this reality with fresh eyes. As he writes:"The first things must be the very fountains of life, love and birth and babyhood; and these are always covered fountains, flowing in the quiet courts of the home."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621644477
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Publication date:	03/25/2022
Pages:	237
Sales rank:	513,517
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dale Ahlquist is President of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, creator and host of the long-running EWTN series on G.K. Chesterton, and publisher of Gilbert Magazine. He is considered the greatest living authority on the life and works of Chesterton. His books include The Apostle of Common Sense, The Complete Thinker, Knight of the Holy Ghost, and Common Sense 101.

Table of Contents

Prelude: "Defending the Triangle" Dale Ahlquist 9

Introduction Dale Ahlquist 15

1 The Family … and the World 21

Poem: The House of Christmas 21

"Quotations" 22

Essays and Excerpts:

Where History Begins 27

The Story of the Family 27

On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family 38

What Is the Institution of the Family? 49

The Alternative to the Family 54

2 Love … and Sex 57

Poem: The Strange Music 57

"Quotations" 58

Essays and Excerpts:

To Frances 62

Two Stubborn Pieces of Iron 68

The Essence of Romance 69

Free Love in Literature 70

The Next Heresy 72

A Fury 73

Sex and Property 74

3 Marriage … and Divorce 77

Poem: Creation Day 77

"Quotations" 77

Essays and Excerpts:

A Defence of Rash Vows 81

The Decay of Honour 87

Marriage and the Modern Mind 89

Incompatible 96

The Freedom of Marriage 97

The Bonds of Love 100

Scientific Marriage 106

On Divorce and Divinity 109

Murder and Marriage 110

The Eccentricity of Marriage 113

Divorce and Slavery 115

The Tragedies of Marriage 120

Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth 127

4 Babies … and Birth Control 135

Poem: By the Babe Unborn 135

"Quotations" 135

Essays and Excerpts:

A Defence of Baby-Worship 144

Three Foes of the Family 148

Social Reform vs. Birth Control 151

Babies and Distributism 153

Birth and Brain Control 157

Blasphemy and the Baby 159

Scipio and the Children 161

The Large Family 163

5 Parents … and Public Education 165

Poem 165

"Quotations" 165

Essays and Excerpts:

Turning Inside Out 170

Playgrounds for Adults 180

The Distributist Schoolmaster 183

On Dangerous Toys 186

Boyhood and Militarism 190

The Child of the Servile State 191

6 Home … and Work 193

Poem: A Song of Education 193

"Quotations" 194

Essays and Excerpts: A Song of Education

The Wildness of Domesticity 199

The Drift from Domesticity 202

The Emancipation of Domesticity 212

The Dignity of Domesticity 215

Women in the Workplace-and in the Home 219

The Feminist and the Factory 224

A Feminist Fallacy 225

Head of the House 226

The Equality of Sexlessness 227

On Household Gods and Goblins 229

Postlude: A Closing Thought from G. K. Chesterton 237

Editorial Reviews

"Mankind's future depends on whether we embrace or reject the wisdom of this book. Read this book before doing so becomes a criminal act."

Christopher Check

"We are travelling through a desert of illusion in our surreal modern world with the phantasms of the human person and the family that dominate our culture. The wisdom of Chesterton on the family is an oasis, from which we may draw water joyfully."

Thomas Cardinal Collins

"G. K. Chesterton was not only a great defender of the faith but a great defender of the family also. This excellent collection of the best of Chesterton's writing on the family is more needed today than it was in Chesterton's own day."

Joseph Pearce

"This book is exactly what the doctor ordered for a society that has lost its mind when it comes to defining the family and the sexes. A timely and seminal collection of Chestertonian wit and wisdom on marriage and divorce, love and sex, parents and children, birth control and public education."

Louis Markos

"Assembled so brilliantly by Ahlquist, this Chesterton chrestomathy does with rapier wit and robust humor what so few could do—make laughingstocks of those sappers who are so earnestly undermining the family in the name of freedom. The Woke should fear this book. Everyone else should buy it."

Robert Reilly

"With the eyes of a prophet, Chesterton knew that the world’s embrace of the family as the primary social unit was coming to an end. Modernity and postmodernity cannot handle such a wondrous institution. Watching Chesterton defend the family is a joy."

Bradley Birzer

"Brilliance is made the way a spark is made, when steel is struck by something harder than it is. Chesterton's brain is the flint that strikes subjects we find hard, like marriage, divorce, oaths, promises, love, and sex."

David Fagerberg