Project Gutenberg
2023-04-07
Public domain in the USA.
101
Belloc, Hilaire
1870
1953
Belloc, Joseph Hilaire Pierre
Belloc, H.
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
1874
1936
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith
Chesterton, Gilbert K. (Gilbert Keith)
84241976
The great inquiry
$aUnited Kingdom :$bDuckworth & Co., $c1903.
Benjamin Fluehr, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
"The Great Inquiry" by Hilaire Belloc is a satirical work, likely written during the early 20th century. This publication serves as a mock report of a fictional parliamentary inquiry into the economic conditions of Britain and its colonies, shining a light on the absurdities and inefficiencies of the British political and economic system of the time. Through a series of comical testimonies and exaggerated claims, Belloc critiques the plight of British industry while addressing serious themes related to protectionism, the impact of foreign trade, and national identity. The book unfolds as a series of meetings where various witnesses, ranging from industrialists to animals, offer their evidence about the decline of national health and wealth. Many characters present increasingly ridiculous solutions to the problems they face, such as demanding government subsidies or evidencing the superiority of British products through the anecdotal success of a well-fed pig compared to a poorly nourished one. Ultimately, the inquiry descends into chaos, reveling in nonsensical bureaucracy and absurd claims about economic decline, emphasizing the disconnect between political discourse and the economic realities of the time. Belloc employs humor and satire not just to entertain but to provoke thought regarding political accountability and the often misguided nature of policy decisions. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
https://archive.org/details/greatinquiryonly00bellrich/page/n7/mode/2up
20200416015252belloc
1903
GB
Reading ease score: 71.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.
en
Satire
Chamberlain, Joseph, 1836-1914 -- Humor
Balfour, Arthur James, 1848-1930 -- Humor
Tariff -- Great Britain -- History -- Humor
Protectionism -- Great Britain -- Humor
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1901-1910 -- Humor
PR
Text
Category: Humour
Category: British Literature
106551
2025-06-28T04:42:35.920839
text/html
104368
2023-04-07T12:52:57
text/html
6499403
2025-06-28T04:42:40.827792
application/epub+zip
6498389
2025-06-28T04:42:37.556811
application/epub+zip
278860
2025-06-28T04:42:36.563818
application/epub+zip
7016060
2025-06-28T04:42:42.978834
application/x-mobipocket-ebook
6996202
2025-06-28T04:42:40.033831
application/x-mobipocket-ebook
85169
2025-06-28T04:42:35.425820
text/plain; charset=us-ascii
84955
2023-04-07T12:52:57
text/plain; charset=us-ascii
20655
2025-06-28T04:42:43.118797
application/rdf+xml
20518
2025-06-28T04:42:36.829864
image/jpeg
3004
2025-06-28T04:42:36.692838
image/jpeg
34129
2023-04-07T12:52:59
application/octet-stream
application/zip
6862183
2023-04-07T12:52:59
application/octet-stream
application/zip
6948829
2025-06-28T04:42:36.036860
application/octet-stream
application/zip
Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at
https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog
en.wikipedia
en.wikipedia