Gilbert Keith Chesterton

xv, 685 pp. Maisie Ward's biography of Gilbert Keith Chesterton has long been a cornerstone in Chesterton studies, as well as in the publishing house she and her husband, Frank Sheed, founded in 1926. Originally published in 1942, just six years after Chesterton's untimely death, this book combines Ward's unique perspective as the author's friend and publisher with an examination of his personal correspondence and interviews with his closest friends and family. Here are Chesterton's childhood and school days, the friendship and foolery of youth, his early theological development, high spirited love letters, the variety and richness of his travel and life abroad, his lectures, his writings, and his indominable spirit.