If you are a Corbett Reporter you have by now read and re-read Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, those mundane works of straightforward non-fiction by George Orwell that seem inescapable reference points for the world we are living in today. But, as Bernard Crick writes in his introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition of Orwell's collected essays, "What do they know of Orwell who only Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four know?" From "Why I Write" to "Shooting An Elephant" to "Politics and the English Language" to various reflections on literature and politics and society, Orwell's essays are, for the most part, as insightful and timeless as his most famous novels, and equally worth the time and attention of serious students of the 20th century. ~ James Corbett
One of the most thought-provoking and vivid essayists of the twentieth century, George Orwell fought the injustices of his time with singular vigor through pen and paper. In this selection of essays, he ranges from reflections on his boyhood schooling and the profession of writing to his views on the Spanish Civil War and British imperialism. The pieces collected here include the relatively unfamiliar and the more celebrated, making it an ideal compilation for both new and dedicated readers of Orwell's work.
