This collection comprises Chestertonian defenses of penny dreadfuls, rash vows, skeletons, publicity, nonsense, planets, China shepherdesses, useful information, heraldry, ugly things, farce, humility, slang, baby-worship, detective stories, patriotismhe even defends the very existence of his own book.

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was a prolific and influential English writer known for the wide-range of his talents, which included mysteries, fantasies, and Christian apologetics.  A spirited Catholic polemicist, he was the author of the beloved Father Brown mysteries, as well as of the classic metaphysical thriller,The Man Who Was Thursday.