The Crimes of England

The Crimes of England is a series of essays written during the Great War that highlight, in Chesterton's learned and generally witty opinion, the failings of his country. The collection opens with a letter to Professor Whirlwind, a German whose name 'is too much for me', and who has been writing articles attacking England in the newspapers of the day. Chesterton savagely and cleverly whittles the Professor down to a very small nub indeed, and then he goes on to highlight his own problems with England. His criticism of the German soul and the English failings in (then) recent times are juxtaposed to great effect. Chesterton ends his essays with a plea to his fellow Englishmen not to avoid criticising their nation but to embrace it. He writes, “I have passed the great part of my life in criticising and condemning the existing rulers and institutions of my country: I think it is infinitely the most patriotic thing that a man can do.”