Orwell and Politics

Orwell and Politics

Summary

Including Animal Farm

'Orwell is the most influential political writer of the twentieth century' New York Review of Books

Throughout his life George Orwell aimed, in his words, to make 'political writing into an art'. This collection brings together the best of his matchless political essays and journalism with his timeless satire on totalitarianism, Animal Farm. It includes articles on subjects from the corruption of language to the oppressive British Empire; his masterly wartime Socialist polemic, 'The Lion and the Unicorn'; a wry review of Mein Kampf; a defence of Nineteen Eighty-Four; and extracts from his controversial list of 'Crypto-Communists'. Together these works demonstrate Orwell's commitment to telling the truth, however unpalatable, and doing so with artistry and humanity.

Edited by Peter Davison with an Introduction by Timothy Garton Ash

About the author

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen-name, George Orwell, was born in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame. His novels and non-fiction include Burmese Days, Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia.
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