Perhaps no other writer of his time so deserved the title of man of letters as Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936). Author of literally scores of books and countless articles, he was a playwright, poet, journalist, novelist, mystery writer, and biographer, among other things. His rise to fame during the period from the Boer War to World War I has been described as meteoric. He is best known today for two works of fiction, The Man Who Was Thursday and his series of "Father Brown" detective stories.