{"product_id":"the-man-who-was-thursday-9780486251219","title":"The Man Who Was Thursday","description":"..\". An extraordinary book, written as if the publisher had commissioned him to write something rather like \u003ci\u003eThe Pilgrim's Progress\u003c\/i\u003e in the style of \u003ci\u003eThe Pickwick Papers\u003c\/i\u003e.\"--Msgr. Ronald Knox\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps best known to the general public as creator of the \"Father Brown\" detective stories, G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was especially renowned for his wit, rhetorical brilliance and talent for ingenious and revealing paradox. Those qualities are richly abundant in the present volume, a hilarious, fast-paced tale about a club of anarchists in turn-of-the- century London.\u003cbr\u003eThe story begins when Gabriel Syme, a poet and member of a special group of philosophical policemen, attends a secret meeting of anarchists, whose leaders are named for the days of the week, and all of whom are sworn to destroy the world. Their chief is the mysterious Sunday--huge, boisterous, full of vitality, a wild personage who may be a Chestertonian vision of God or nature or both. When Syme, actually an undercover detective, is unexpectedly elected to fill a vacancy on the Anarchists' Central Council, the plot takes the first of many surprising twists and turns.\u003cbr\u003eThe poet\/sleuth is soon caught up in a deadly scheme to bomb a meeting in Paris of the Czar and the President of the French Republic. The story grows steadily more bizarre, at the same time serving as a vehicle for Chesterton's philosophical, political and religious speculations, cloaked in cheerful irreverence, and pointed wit: \"You've got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.\"\u003cbr\u003eSuch perceptions, expressed with profound good humor, add a delightful dimension of interest to this inventive and readable allegorical puzzle. In Dover's inexpensive paperbound edition, completely reset in new type for easier reading, \u003ci\u003eThe Man Who Was Thursday \u003c\/i\u003ewill delight any reader who relishes clever plotting, delicious irony and rousing adventure in a novel in which..\".the wisdom flashes out in star-showers: (Baker and Packman, \u003ci\u003eA Guide to the Best Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dover Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/01\/1986\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780486251219\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 144\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.33lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.46h x 5.41w x 0.31d","brand":"G. K. Chesterton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36637687185564,"sku":"9780486251219","price":8.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_647989bf-8982-4f9b-8aaf-20539f7c2a40.jpg?v=1603845432","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-man-who-was-thursday-9780486251219","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}