I don't understand how this book continues to get such high ratings and still is being praised. Agreed, it clearly contains 'strokes of genius', insights that were cleverly found on the basis of the information available at the time (1925). So I'm not going to dispute that Chesterton had a very sharp mind. But this book is nearly a century old, which is an insurmountable handicap for a work that claims to offer a history of the world. His passages about prehistoric man and about the earliest civilizations are completely obsolete according to current insights. And Chesterton's language is – and I’ll try to stay polite – very derogatory and sometimes utterly racist: for example, he constantly uses the words 'rude savages' when talking about Australian aborigines, and the infamous n-word also crops up regularly. The whole book, exudes an exclusively white, Eurocentric spirit; you can't really blame Chesterton for being a child of his time, but he’s really laying it on thick. And then there’s his horrible, pedantic style, with a constant ridicule of dissenting opinions, especially those based on scientific research (which, by the way, immediately prompted him to make a slight adjustment in an appendix). Obviously, this is an extremely polemical work, with a single goal: namely jamming it down our throat that with the introduction of Christianity world history has taken a fundamentally different path. I could follow that somewhat philosophically and theologically (but not in the terms Chesterton uses), but historically this just doesn't make sense. I really looked forward to reading this, but unfortunately, it was another disappointment. I don't understand how this book continues to get such high ratings and still is being praised. Agreed, it clearly contains 'strokes of genius', insights that were cleverly found on the basis of the information available at the time (1925). So I'm not going to dispute that Chesterton had a very sharp mind. But this book is nearly a century old, which is an insurmountable handicap for a work that claims to offer a history of the world. His passages about prehistoric man and about the earliest civilizations are completely obsolete according to current insights. And Chesterton's language is – and I’ll try to stay polite – very derogatory and sometimes utterly racist: for example, he constantly uses the words 'rude savages' when talking about Australian aborigines, and the infamous n-word also crops up regularly. The whole book, exudes an exclusively white, Eurocentric spirit; you can't really blame Chesterton for being a child of his time, but he’s really laying it on thick. And then there’s his horrible, pedantic style, with a constant ridicule of dissenting opinions, especially those based on scientific research (which, by the way, immediately prompted him to make a slight adjustment in an appendix). Obviously, this is an extremely polemical work, with a single goal: namely jamming it down our throat that with the introduction of Christianity world history has taken a fundamentally different path. I could follow that somewhat philosophically and theologically (but not in the terms Chesterton uses), but historically this just doesn't make sense. I really looked forward to reading this, but unfortunately, it was another disappointment.
For a view positive remarks, see my History-account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4399439729 ( )

I totally agree with his beliefs but the writing was too complicated for me. ( )

Considered by many to be Chesterton's greatest masterpiece of all his writings, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all of man's desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ's Church.

I read this book in 2014 and could not find a single margin note of mine in the entire book - which surprised me because I like Chesterton's writings. Without my margin notes, I cannot provide a just review, except to say that I do recall enjoying all of Chesterton's books that I read. ( )

You can read my full review at Quieted Waters.

The Everlasting Man is second in my series of books to fill my year with G. K. Chesterton. I continue to appreciate Chesterton for his wit, eloquence, and admiration for beauty and joy; while I am beginning to have some hesitation with his overall body of work.

This particular title splits into two parts, divided by Christ’s advent. Chesterton’s first half focuses on the world before Jesus and the way in which its religions developed. He lists and describes many ancient religions, showing how they all paved the way for Christianity.

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