The Outline of Sanity: A Biography of G.K. Chesterton

This really is, in my opinion, the best introduction to the thought and life of G.K. Chesterton. I have read a couple other biographies that came nowhere near the level of understanding Alzina Stone Dale brings to this work. While it is commonly accepted that Chesterton was a literary genius, he has not fared well with the current arbiters of taste. Usually, biographers treat Chesterton as a Quixotic figure, essentially a deeply conservative man born out of his time, or they focus on the dark parts of the man, his supposed anti-Semtism, his excesses in food and drink, etc. Stone Dale has an objective tone that grasps the complexities of the man, while showing a strong compassion for her subject. She writes well about his politics, aesthetics and religion, with a real feel for his cultural time and place. Chesterton was a paradoxical man and that's what makes him so interesting. I think his politics will be seen as very forward-thinking someday and will probably be studied by those looking for a third way out of the capitalism vs. socialism mess we are in at the time I write this. His faith was foundational in his life, and Stone Dale treats it with sophistication, without bringing in her own bias (as some writers do). She gives you real sense of the energy of Edwardian London and the business of journalism at the time. I can't recommend the book enough for those interested in Chesterton's thought.