A Short History Of England is a book written by G. K. Chesterton which has a beginning of the popular histories are all, nearly without exception, written against the people, and in them, the populace is either ignored or elaborately proved to have been wrong. Green's "A Short History of the English People" seems to have been thought too short for the people to be properly mentioned. There is much in contemporary literature for portraits of men like Henry II. or Edward I, but this did not seem to have been found or even sought. A popular Encyclopedia appeared some years ago, professing among other things to teach English History to the masses. It would be absurd to pretend to have achieved proportion, but the author will confess to some attempt to correct a disproportion. English history is misread especially, he thinks because the crisis is missed. It is usually put about the period of the Stuarts, and many of the memorials suffer from the same visitation. The House of Commons became, for good or evil, a great organ of government, surviving the Church, the monarchy, and the mob; it did many great and not a few good things.
G.K.Chesterton, in full Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874-14 June 1936), English critic and author of poetry, essays, novels, and short stories, known also for his dynamic personality and obese figure. He was an important English writer of the early twentieth century. His productive and various output included journalism, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. He has been concerned to as the 'prince of paradox'. He devoted his extraordinary brain and creative power to the reform of English government and society. He was knowledgeable at St. Paul's, and went to art school at University College London. He wrote 100 books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. Chesterton expired on 14 June 1936 at his home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.
