Christianity, Patriotism, And Nationhood »

This study links the concepts of patriotism, Christianity, and English national identity in the journalistic writings of G. K. Chesterton. It is the first work on Chesterton to explore in full the English attachments that were central to his political and spiritual persona, and their roots in a wider movement of English national consciousness in the early-twentieth century.

Introduction 1

1 Creeds and Identities 13

2 Liberal Journalism and the Patriotic Cosmos 31

3 The Insularity of English Art, Letters, Politics, and Thought: Chesterton's Critique of the Fin de Siecle 55

4 Liberalism, Democracy, and the English Nation 79

5 The Dissident Liberal 103

6 Authenticity, the English, and the Jews 127

7 Prussianism, Teutouism, and the Literary War 151

8 History versus Historians in the First World War 169

9 Nationalism, Internationalism, and the English Past after 1918 183

Conclusion 207

Bibliography 223

Index 231