G.K. Chesterton's work is a collection of 20 polemical essays criticizing early 20th-century modern thought, defending traditional Christian values with his characteristic paradoxical style and humor, and challenging “reformers” such as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Bernard Berenson, whom he considered to have strayed from eternal truth, emphasizing the importance of faith, tradition, and a deep understanding of humans as complex and paradoxical beings. Chesterton often uses paradoxes to reveal deeper truths, such as that pride is the sin of the small, or that greatness is needed to realize the greatness of God. Overall, Heretics is an intelligent and passionate attack on intellectualism, which he considered dry and anti-human, as well as a call to return to the eternal wisdom found in faith and tradition.