Hilaire Belloc: 89 books

Excerpt: "G stands for Gnu, whose weapons of Defence Are long, sharp, curling Horns, and Common-sense. To these he adds a Name so short and strong, That even Hardy Boers pronounce it wrong.How often on a bright Autumnal day The Pious people of Pretoria say, "Come, let us hunt the——"...

THE POLITICAL OBJECTIVE The proper understanding of a battle and of its historical significance is only possible in connection with the campaign of which it forms a part; and the campaign can only be understood when we know the political object which it was designed to serve. A battle is no more than...

Upon being asked by a Reader whether the verses contained in this book were true: And is it True? It is not True. And if it were it wouldn’t do, For people such as me and you Who pretty nearly all day long Are doing something rather wrong. Because if things were really so, You would have perished...

Professor Charles Lexington led a placid and uneventful life until he made the mistake of discovering a way by which lead could be turned into gold. A Mr. Bowry volunteered to help the Professor capitalize the discovery, and from then on things began to happen. Before Professor Lexington got back...

First published in 1922, The Mercy of Allah describes the civilization of the Arabs through the extraordinary tales a wealthy grandfather relates to his beloved grandchildren. These richly textured stories show how this prosperous Arab deceived his own countrymen to gain great fortunes, while also...

Les premiers conquérants de l’air Le Ballon sphérique.—Le Dirigeable Conquête de l’air.—Locomotion aérienne. Par ses moyens physiques naturels, l’être humain est attaché à la terre. Il ne peut pas franchir de grandes étendues d’eau à la nage,—les nombreuses tentatives de traversée...

ON THE ROAD AND THE FASCINATION OF ANTIQUITY There are primal things which move us. Fire has the character of a free companion that has travelled with us from the first exile; only to see a fire, whether he need it or no, comforts every man. Again, to hear two voices outside at night after a silence,...

It is the object of this book, and those which will succeed it in the same series, to put before the reader the main lines of the European War as it proceeds. Each such part must necessarily be completed and issued some little time after the events to which it relates have passed into history. The present...

Excerpt: "The six chapters of this little book discuss and explain six separate and most important phases of the present war. Every effort has been made to deal with the headings selected as comprehensively and as simply as possible, and it is hoped that, in this convenient form, the handbook...

This work is ascribed, on its own internal authority, to Asser, who is said to have been Bishop of St. David’s, of Sherborne or of Exeter, in the time of king Alfred. Though most of the public events recorded in this book are to be found in the Saxon Chronicle, yet for many interesting circumstances...

This 1910 political satire features an evil conspiracy in which a hidden puppet master manipulates the political and financial systems of England.

England has been built up upon the framework of her rivers, and, in that pattern, the principal line has been the line of the Thames. Partly because it was the main highway of Southern England, partly because it looked eastward towards the Continent from which the national life has been drawn, partly...

Excellent article about the evils of what he calls "the official Press," how it suppresses some news, distorts others, or invents a few, as a part of the political agenda of its owners or advertising sponsors, never in favour of the public. He also considers how the free Press, however puny...

Archibald who told no lies, And got this lovely volume for a prize. The Upper School had combed and oiled their hair, And all the Parents of the Boys were there. In words that ring like thunder through the Hall, Draw tears from some and loud applause from all,— The Pedagogue, with...