This book on Chesterton's Lepanto is full of interesting details surrounding the battle. The book is of special interest to Catholics because of its connection to a Marian feast still celebrated on the date of the famous battle and other tidbits. There is also a literary point of interest arising from the fact that Cervantes served with the Christian fleet and was wounded in the battle. The poem highlights a neglected but crucial event in the Western struggle with Islamic expansionism.

A few months after completing his semi-well known epic, "The Ballad of the White Horse", Chesterton undertook putting a different battle into poem; that battle was Lepanto.

Lepanto is an important sea battle that took place between European and Turkish forces in the 1600's. It is often remembered as an `almost' for the West, since if the Turkish forces had won, there was a good chance that Italy would have fallen under their influence as a result. Most likely, the reason why the Europeans won was because they were under the command of Austrian Don John, the illegitimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor, and half brother to the King of Spain. But this is mostly told in the scholarly essays that are included in the book.

But that may the important thing to note: the poem which is this book's namesake....only takes up ten pages. The rest of its 124 pages are taken up by excellent essays by military, literary, and historical scholars. (A warning to Muslims and Protestants: While they are respectful in their stances, they are most certainly pro-Catholic, pro-West in their writing; much like Chesterton was. Don't be surprised if you get bashed a bit, as this Protestant reader was.)While they offer excellent insights into the poem, it's a little disappointing to find out you won't be reading Chesterton's excellent prose for much of the book, save for the poem and two essays of his.

But oh, what poetry it is. When it was released in 1911, Lepanto became a national epic in months. By WWI soldiers were writing him telling of how they would read his poem on the battlefield. Lepanto recounts the glory of Don John in an elegant, flowing manner. Not one of the lines `feels' forced, and the reader will be more than a little disappointed to find that they have read the entire poem in under 5 minutes.

I highly recommend this to lovers of poetry and Chesterton. You really can't go wrong with this one, save if you're a pacifist. (In which case, you probably ought to stay away from Chesterton anyway.)