Heretics
In these essays Chesterton takes on the leading thinkers of his day and cheerfully argues that most of them have their first principles wrong. He calls them heretics not as an insult but as a claim that a person’s philosophy matters more than anything else about them, and he spars by name with George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and the followers of Nietzsche. Published in 1905, the book defends wonder, tradition, and ordinary human life against fashionable pessimism and cold notions of progress, all in Chesterton’s trademark style of paradox and sudden common sense. It set the stage for his better-known Orthodoxy, written as its sequel. This free PDF and EPUB edition collects the complete essays.
About the Author
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English writer, critic, and Christian apologist famous for the Father Brown mysteries and sharp, paradox-loving essays. His playful intelligence made him one of the most quotable authors of his age.
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Listen to Heretics Audiobook Free
Listen to Heretics by G. K. Chesterton free online. The full audiobook (7 hr 16 min, 21 chapters, read by Ray Clare) streams free on this page.
Heretics (1905) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introductory Remarks | 6:24 | |
| 2 | On the Importance of Orthodoxy | 19:56 | |
| 3 | On the Negative Spirit | 19:27 | |
| 4 | On Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small | 22:44 | |
| 5 | Mr. Bernard Shaw | 20:39 | |
| 6 | Mr. H. G. Wells and the Giants | 33:09 | |
| 7 | Christmas and the Esthetes | 14:46 | |
| 8 | Omar and the Sacred Vine | 15:08 | |
| 9 | The Mildness of the Yellow Press | 21:32 | |
| 10 | The Moods of Mr. George Moore | 10:19 | |
| 11 | On Sandals and Simplicity | 11:10 | |
| 12 | Science and the Savages | 16:19 | |
| 13 | Paganism and Mr. Lowes Dickinson | 26:51 | |
| 14 | Celts and Celtophiles | 11:13 | |
| 15 | On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family | 25:00 | |
| 16 | On Smart Novelists and the Smart Set | 28:16 | |
| 17 | On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity | 26:30 | |
| 18 | On the Wit of Whistler | 19:09 | |
| 19 | The Fallacy of the Young Nation | 29:44 | |
| 20 | Slum Novelists and the Slums | 26:00 | |
| 21 | Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Orthodoxy | 31:23 |
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