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Mr. Belloc Objects to "the Outline of History"

H. G. Wells

The work is crafted as an argumentative piece, focusing on Hilaire Belloc's critique of Wells's historical account, particularly regarding themes of natural selection and Catholic doctrine.

"Mr. Belloc Objects to 'The Outline of History'" by H. G. Wells is a critical response and discussion. The work is crafted as an argumentative piece, focusing on Hilaire Belloc's critique of Wells's historical account, particularly regarding themes of natural selection and Catholic doctrine.

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I am the least controversial of men. Public disputations have rarely attracted me. For years I have failed to respond to Mr. Henry Arthur Jones, who long ago invented a set of opinions for me and invited me to defend them with an enviable persistence and vigour. Occasionally I may have corrected some too gross public misstatement about me—too often I fear with the acerbity of the inexperienced. But now, in my sixtieth year, I find myself drawn rather powerfully into a disputation with Mr. Hilaire Belloc. I bring an unskilled pen to the task.

I am responsible for an Outline of History which has had a certain vogue. I will assume that it is known by name to the reader. It is a careful summary of man’s knowledge of past time. It has recently been reissued with considerable additions in an illustrated form, and Mr. Belloc has made a great attack upon it. He declares that I am violently antagonistic to the Catholic Church, an accusation I deny very earnestly, and he has produced a “Companion” to this Outline of mine, following up the periodical issue, part by part, in the Universe of London,14 in the Catholic Bulletin of St. Paul, Minnesota, in the Southern Cross of Cape Colony, and possibly elsewhere, in which my alleged errors are exposed and confuted.

Contents

  1. 01Mr. Belloc Objects to “the Outline of History”
  2. 02Foreword
  3. 03Contents
  4. 04Mr. Belloc Objects to “the Outline of History”
  5. 05I Mr. Belloc’s Arts of Controversy
  6. 06Disconcerting Pose of Mr. Belloc
  7. 07Remarkable Portrait of Mr. Wells
  8. 08Gathering Courage of Mr. Belloc
  9. 09Reflections upon the Real Mr. Belloc
  10. 10The Clue to Mr. Belloc’s Disconcerting Pose
  11. 11Graceful Concessions to Mr. Belloc
  12. 12II the Theory of Natural Selection Stated
  13. 13Natural Selection is Pure Common-Sense
  14. 14Natural Selection Has Nothing to Do with the Origin of Variations
  15. 15Testing the Theory
  16. 16Some Irrelevant Questions
  17. 17III Mr. Belloc as a Specimen Critic of Natural Selection
  18. 18Mr. Belloc’s Mental Indigestion
  19. 19Mr. Belloc’s Bird-Lizard
  20. 20Troubles of Mr. Belloc as a Matrimonial Agent
  21. 21Mr. Belloc Comes to His Evidence
  22. 22Mr. Belloc a Fixed Type
  23. 23Triumphant Demand of Mr. Belloc
  24. 24A Magnificent Generalisation
  25. 25IV Mr. Belloc’s Adventures Among the Sub-Men: Manifest Terror of the Neanderthaler
  26. 26Mr. Belloc as Iconoclast
  27. 27Mr. Belloc Discovers a Mare’s-Nest
  28. 28The Chasing of Mr. Belloc Begins
  29. 29Where Was the Garden of Eden?
  30. 30V Fixity or Progress
  31. 31The Idea of Fixed Humanity
  32. 32The Fundamental Issue
  33. 33The Idea of Progressive Humanity
  34. 34The New Thought and the Old
  35. 35Old Wine in New Bottles
  36. 36Transcriber’s Notes

About this edition

Author
H. G. Wells
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Advanced: for close, demanding reading
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
81 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers