Still not convinced that Orwell was a profoundly important writer, not just for the 20th century but even now in the 21st century? This slim volume from the irascible Christopher Hitchens should help. This is not a run-of-the-mill biography or work of literary appreciation; rather, it elucidates and explains the strange position that Orwell occupies in political history, simultaneously praised and kept at arms length by leftists and rightists alike. The whole study of Orwell as a man who stood up to tyranny (political consequences be damned) is interesting—especially when read as an invitation by Hitchens for future biographers to cast himself in the same light—but Hitchens' placement of Orwell's work in a 21st century context and his reaffirmation of its ongoing importance and relevance is at times genuinely stirring. ~ James Corbett
In this widely acclaimed biographical essay, the masterful polemicist Christopher Hitchens assesses the life, the achievements, and the myth of the great political writer and participant George Orwell. True to his contrarian style, Hitchens is both admiring and aggressive, sympathetic yet critical, taking true measure of his subject as hero and problem. Answering both the detractors and the false claimants, Hitchens tears down the façe of sainthood erected by the hagiographers and rebuts the critics point by point. He examines Orwell and his perspectives on fascism, empire, feminism, and Englishness, as well as his outlook on America, a country and culture towards which he exhibited much ambivalence. Whether thinking about empires or dictators, race or class, nationalism or popular culture, Orwell's moral outlook remains indispensable in a world that has undergone vast changes in the seven decades since his death. Combining the best of Hitchens' polemical punch and intellectual elegance in a tightly woven and subtle argument, this book addresses not only why Orwell matters today, but how he will continue to matter in a future, uncertain world.
