What I Saw in America

G. K. Chesterton

The Floating Press, Mar 1, 2011 - Travel - 263 pages

Like many writers and thinkers of his era, British author G.K. Chesterton toured the United States to get a clearer sense of the country's culture and zeitgeist. The collection What I Saw in America offers Chesterton's impressions of the U.S. in the early twentieth century. Part travelogue, part cultural critique, and part historical analysis, this unique volume is a must-read for Chesterton fans or those with an interest in American history.

Contents

• What is America?: 4
• A Meditation in a New York Hotel: 19
• A Meditation in Broadway: 31
• Irish and Other Interviewers: 43
• Some American Cities: 57
• In the American Country: 71
• The American Business Man: 85
• Presidents and Problems: 105
• Prohibition in Fact and Fancy: 125
• Fads and Public Opinion: 140
• The Extraordinary American: 156
• The Republican in the Ruins: 167
• Is the Atlantic Narrowing?: 178
• Lincoln and Lost Causes: 189
• Wells and the World State: 200
• A New Martin Chuzzlewit: 215
• The Spirit of America: 227
• The Spirit of England: 238
• The Future of Democracy: 250
• Endnotes: 262

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England, in 1874. He began his education at St Paul's School, and later went on to study art at the Slade School, and literature at University College in London. Chesterton wrote a great deal of poetry, as well as works of social and literary criticism. Among his most notable books are The Man Who Was Thursday, a metaphysical thriller, and The Everlasting Man, a history of humankind's spiritual progress. After Chesterton converted to Catholicism in 1922, he wrote mainly on religious topics. Chesterton is most known for creating the famous priest-detective character Father Brown, who first appeared in "The Innocence of Father Brown." Chesterton died in 1936 at the age of 62.

Bibliographic information

• Title: What I Saw in America
• Author: G. K. Chesterton
• Publisher: The Floating Press, 2011
• ISBN: 177545181X, 9781775451815
• Length: 263 pages
• Subjects: History / General; Literary Collections / Essays; Travel / Essays & Travelogues