In his time Hilaire Belloc enjoyed the same popularity with readers as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and G. K. Chesterton. He wrote poetry, fiction, history, travel pieces, and works on topography, as well as articles and essays in a wide variety of modes including ridicule, parody, satire, and logical argumentation. Although his first love was poetry, the essay was his daily occupation. His themes are diverse: God, nature, society, culture, literature, politics, and history. His style is clear, concise, and profound whether he is being playful or charming, angry or bitter, humorous or funny.

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was born in La Celle St. Cloud, near Paris, on 27 July 1870, a few days before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. His grandfather Hilaire Belloc was a respected artist; his grandmother Louise Swanton Belloc was a writer of biographies and children's books. His father, Louis Swanton...