Dr. McCarthy’s interesting and informative biography of one of England’s (and France’s) most respected and beloved twentieth-century Catholic sons will inform, entertain, enlighten and – given its occasional classical liberal and libertarian perspective – provoke. Nevertheless, the author’s scholarship is sound, his research thorough, and his prose concise and not unworthy of his subject. Dealing with the life, background, intellectual context, and overall work of Hilaire Belloc, with a special and particularly useful focus upon Belloc’s early career and pre-1920 intellectual background and development, Dr. McCarthy’s book is an essential addition to any up-to-date and complete library about the work and ideas of one of Distributism’s greatest figures, one of the Church’s most worthy apologists, and one of the English language’s most noteworthy modern talents.