"The Defendant" is a collection of essays in which Chesterton defends things and concepts one wouldn't normally consider in need of defense(such as skeletons, humility, detective stories, etc.) That sounds positively dry, but it is a lot of fun. Basically he is commenting on the loss of positivity and wonderment(at the world around us), especially in the upper, elitist classes. Like Whitman Chesterton obviously sees the common man as having access to a vitality and poeticism that the higher classes have lost. Of course this was written in 1902, but much of it still applies(especially pertinent is his essay on patriotism).