What's Wrong with the World

What's Wrong with the World is a philosophical essay written by G.K. Chesterton and originally published in 1910.

In this work, composed of a collection of essays, G. K. Chesterton addresses a series of topics such as education, politics, big business and women's rights.

Despite being written more than a hundred years ago, the topics he deals with are still relevant and Chesterton criticizes, among other things, the materialism, snobbery and hypocrisy of modern society.

Chesterton comes to many very interesting conclusions such as that society often agrees on what is considered a social evil, but disagrees on the corrective good of that evil. He also talks about our prejudices and how they prevent us from discussing social problems in open forums. He also concludes that it is very difficult to learn from our past because we tend to be afraid of it.

He also criticizes that the industrialism of modern society dehumanizes the individual and that we have sacrificed the human being for the benefit of commercial enterprise.

These essays can be read both as stand-alone and continuous readings, and provide ample opportunity for rereading or annotation.

"A book of modern social inquiry has a shape that is somewhat sharply defined. It begins as a rule with an analysis, with statistics, tables of population, decrease of crime among Congregationalists, growth of hysteria among policemen, and similar ascertained facts; it ends with a chapter that is generally called “The Remedy.”"