Hilaire Belloc: Edwardian Radical

By John P. McCarthy

Book Overview

Intriguing and informative, this biography celebrates one of England's most respected and beloved 20th-century Catholic sons. Based on sound scholarship and thorough research, this study deals with the life; background; intellectual context; political and economic beliefs, particularly those concerning the theory that capitalism and socialism are not two distinct thoughts but rather Siamese twins; and overall work of Hilaire Belloc. Including a particularly useful focus upon his early career and pre-1920 intellectual background and development, this survey depicts one of Distributism's greatest figures, one of the Church's most worthy apologists, and one of the English language's most noteworthy modern talents.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0913966436
• ISBN13: 9780913966433
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Liberty Fund
• Length: 373 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An Interesting Look at Hilaire Belloc.

This book examines the life and political thought of the Catholic intellectual, Hilaire Belloc. Belloc was a radical along with his friend G. K. Chesterton and a Catholic intellectual who lived in Edwardian England. His political thinking was an attempt to provide a sort of third way between capitalism and socialism, which he christened distributivism. Much of this book deals with the turns his thinking took from his beginnings as a radical to his subsequent turn which lead to the publication of his famous book _The Servile State_ and his eventual favoring of monarchy as opposed to the party system. Opposed to socialism, distributivism allows for individual ownership of property and the means of production. Much of Belloc's thinking is opposed to modernism and retains a medieval outlook which is heavily influenced by his Catholicism. Also, Belloc broke with the party system, finding both parties to be driven by the same group of interests, and opposed the new legislation which would eventually give rise to the modern welfare state (which he predicted in his _The Servile State_). Belloc's thinking offers a unique perspective for Catholic individuals who look for an alternative philosophy to that of modern day consumerism, capitalism, and socialism. Unfortunately, society is heading more in the direction of Belloc's servile state and away from the alternative that Belloc proposed. This book offers a fine introduction to his life and the development of his political thought.