Most Popular Books by George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four revealed George Orwell as one of the twentieth century’s greatest mythmakers. While the totalitarian system that provoked him into writing it has since passed into oblivion, his harrowing cautionary tale of a man trapped in a political nightmare has had the opposite fate: its relevance and power to disturb our complacency seem to grow decade by decade. In Winston Smith’s desperate struggle to free himself from an all-encompassing, malevolent state, Orwell zeroed in on tendencies apparent in every modern society, and made vivid the universal predicament of the individual. (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) From the Hardcover edition.

1984 is considered a work of political prophecy that continues to grow more haunting as it becomes more real with every passing day. It was published seventy years ago. English political novelist George Orwell wrote this dystopian tale as a warning against totalitarianism that told us what the world would be without the freedom to think. It has now become one of the most significant novels of the 20th century. This novel tells the story of Winston Smith, who lives in a society that follows a totalitarian ideology propagated by the party. In this repressive world big brother controls everything, telescreens see everything, police helicopters circle overhead all the time, the thought police uncover every Act of betrayal, the Ministry of love deals in pain and despair, the Ministry of peace wages war and dissent is not tolerated in the mind. Despite all this, in his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal. The terrifying glimpse into a future that Orwell gives us in 1984 where everyone is a slave to a tyrannical regime has made it perhaps the most influential book of the 20th century. With this special edition, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of this masterpiece.

George Orwell was a much-respected English novelist, who wrote some of the finest pieces in literary criticism, fiction. Orwellu0092s work is known for its simplicity and wit. He wrote with smartness on subjects such as anti-fascism, democratic socialism etc. His best works include u0093ANIMAL FARMu0094. Itu0092s an allegorical novella. It got published in August 1945. The fiction based on Farm animals, the author has named them too. Such as Major (a majestic-looking pig), 3-dogs (Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher), many hens, pigeons, ducklings, sheeps and cows. Two horses, Boxer and Clover. Amongst them, Major is their leader. He wanted to speak on u0093the nature of life on this earthu0094 and u0093How any animal is now livingu0094. The author has nicely elaborated through these Characters about the animalsu0092 misery and slavery. Animals complain that despite their hard labour, why then do they continue in the misrable condition? They also complain about human beings that they use to steal nearly the whole of their produce. Their main enemy is - Man. So, remove Man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork will be abolished for ever. The book narrates about the agony of ill-treated farm animals. Then what decision they take and how this Animal Farm born, everything has become very interesting. The ultimate satire on fascism. A must-read book. u0091A Wise, Compassionate, and Illuminating Fable for our Timesu0092 THE NEW YORK TIMES u0091Orwellu0092s Satire is Amply Broad, Cleverly Conceived, and Delightfully Writtenu0092 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE u0091Absolutely First-Rate... Comparable to Voltaire and Swiftu0092 THE NEW YORKER

George Orwell was a novelist, essayist and critic best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism. Animal Farm was published in 1945 when Orwell, a democratic socialist, was angered at Joseph Stalin for betraying the ideas of the Russian Revolution. In fact, that is the basis of Orwell''s book. The characters in Animal Farm resemble significant people that impacted the Russian Revolution. These characters act similarly to the real people and actions that were done in the past. Through this book, George Orwell exposes Stalin''s true nature and evils using a corrupt pig named Napoleon that eventually dictates the farm. Animal Farm is one of the most influential political texts ever written.

This Excellent Collection brings together Orwell''s longer, major books and a fine selection of shorter pieces. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose, Orwell''s Books created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and continue to challenge, move and entertain. This Books created and collected in George Orwell''s Most important Works illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of the XX century - a man who elevated political writing to an art. This Collection included: · 1984 · ANIMAL FARM · A CLERGYMAN''S DAUGHTER · BURMESE DAYS · COMING UP FOR AIR · DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON · HOMAGE TO CATALONIA · KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING · LOOKING BACK ON THE SPANISH WAR · THE LION AND THE UNICORN · THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER

1984 or Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949. 1984 is one of George Orwell''s most powerful politically charged novels, a beautifully crafted warning against the dangers of a totalitarian society, and one of the most famous novels in the dystopian genre. Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling party in London whose every move is monitored by telescreens. Everywhere Winston goes, the party''s omniscient leader, Big Brother, watches him. This is an important novel not only for its stark warning against abusive authority (and its somewhat ironic contribution to modern television content), but also for its insights into the power of manipulating language, history, and the psychology of fear and control. These issues are perhaps even more pertinent today than when Orwell penned his novel.

A compilation of personal letters creates an autobiography of the author of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" through his correspondence with other literary luminaries, including T.S. Eliot and Henry Miller, as well as letters to complete strangers.

George Orwell is a major figure in twentieth-century literature. The author of Down and Out in Paris and London, Nineteen Eighty-four, and Animal Farm, he published ten books and two collections of essays during his lifetime - but in terms of actual words, produced much more than seems possible for someone who died at the age of forty-six and was often struggling against poverty and ill health. His essays, letters, and journalism are among the most memorable, lucid, and intelligent ever written, the work of a master craftsman and a brilliant mind. Taken as a whole they form an essential collection, and read in toto and sequentially, they provide a remarkably literary self-portrait of an engaged, and consistently engaging, writer.

Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell''s nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff''s attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell''s prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written. --Amazon.com.

George Orwell set out ''to make political writing into an art'', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell''s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell''s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ''four great motives for writing'' – ''sheer egoism'', ''aesthetic enthusiasm'', ''historical impulse'' and ''political purpose'' – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell''s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer''s oeuvre.

"Coming Up for Air" is the seventh book by English writer George Orwell, published in June 1939 by Victor Gollancz. It was written between 1938 and 1939 while Orwell spent time recuperating from illness in French Morocco, mainly in Marrakesh. He delivered the completed manuscript to Victor Gollancz upon his return to London in March 1939. The story follows George Bowling, a 45-year old husband, father, and insurance salesman, who foresees World War II and attempts to recapture idyllic childhood innocence and escape his dreary life by returning to Lower Binfield, his birthplace. The novel is comical and pessimistic, with its view that speculative builders, commercialism, and capitalism are killing the best of rural England and the existence of new, external threats.

"1984 - the novel marking the end of communism." George Orwell''s 1984 revolves around Winston Smith, an office worker who performs censorship duties in Oceania''s Ministry of Truth as a small cog in the wheel of a monstrous state apparatus. For years, doubts have been gnawing at him about the legitimacy of the system in which even a blink of the eye can cost him his life. The novel begins with the first step towards putting this initially purely intellectual resistance into action: Winston opens a diary. He subsequently falls in love with a young female colleague, and together they begin a love affair that, in the dictatorship that invades every aspect of life, is in itself an act of high treason. Even though they have different views on the society they live in, they are united by the rejection of its narrow moral corset and the desire for individual freedom and, not least, a right to love and feel. While Winston understands HOW the machinery of tyranny works, he does not understand WHY the massive effort of its surveillance and repressive apparatus is undertaken. When they decide to seek contact with the underground opposition and eventually end up in the hands of the repression apparatus of the state, Winston learns the true background of Oceania''s society. Until his death, George Orwell was a convinced socialist - all the greater was the effect his work, published in 1949, had on the political left of the time. On the political left, the Soviet Union was seen as the realisation of Marx''s ideas, the workers'' paradise that would free the enslaved masses from their shackles. Orwell was one of the few leftists of his time who dared to shake this narrative. Under the impression of the undeniable terror of Stalinist rule and its cynical, opportunistic cooperation with fascist and capitalist foreign countries, he criticised the hypocrisy and inhumanities of the real communism with Animal Farm and 1984.

globally known for his works: Animal Farm; 1984; Down and Out in Paris and London; Burmese Days; Keep the Aspidistra Flying, among others. Down and Out in Paris and London is a memoir of the most defining period of the author''s life and his first work. It was upon its publication in 1933 that the pseudonym George Orwell was born, at the suggestion of his editor. After working as a British Empire police officer in Burma, George Orwell decided to understand the life, ways, and thoughts of the poor population and went to live as one of them. Orwell lived in destitution for a long time before finding work as a dishwasher in a hotel, and all the experiences he had in both cities resulted in this precious book. In Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell discusses his times living in poverty in such a realistic and moving way that it is impossible to put the book down before finishing it.

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

A new edition of Orwell''s early work, showing the origins of his commitment to social justice. A new edition with a new introduction, this is a deeply personal record of Orwell''s growing despair and disillusionment with the Spanish Civil War, gathering themes he would later explore to perfection in Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Having joined the international leftist forces in Barcelona, Orwell grew frustrated by the repressive totalitarianism of Stalin''s brand of communism.

ReviewTrue Agony of a Socialist Orwell is obviously angry at the way Socialism has been distorted by Stalin. Using Animal characters as symbols Orwell honestly mocks and criticizes the Russian leadership under Lenin. It is a very easy to read book giving good perspectives on the Socialist Revolution. --Abhishek Kona Aug 22, 2011Animal Farm is a satirical allegory on the Russian Revolution. Orwell explains it, It is the history of revolution that went wrong. It tells the simple and tragic story of what happens when the oppressed farm rebel to attain freedom from Mr. Jones. It is about their attempt to rule the farm themselves on the basis of equality. The animals had initially aimed to form a utopian society, where each would work according to his capacity, respecting the needs of the others. But, they failed to do so. And, Animal Farm ended up being a dictatorship of the pigs that were the brightest, but did no physical work in reality. The main action of the story stands for The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the early years of the Soviet Union. Animalism is a metaphor for Communism. Manor farm is an allegory of Russia, Mr. Jones is Russian C-Zar, Old Major stands for Karl Marx, and Snowball represents Leo Trotsky. Napolean stands for Stalin, while the dogs are the secret police. The horse, Boxer stands for the working class which works constantly for the greater good while Squealer is the propagandist. The novel is skillfully organized and presents the horrors of communism through simple story-telling. It presents what propaganda and brain washing do to the people living under the dictatorship. How the fickle minded people were swayed easily by the pigs, who managed to reverse the seven commandments and reduce them to Four legs good, two legs better . I would recommend this book to everyone above 14 years of age who has some knowledge about communism or a hint of what happened during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The book is gripping as there is always something happening. It ends with the pigs becoming mush like humans and changing the name of the farm back to the Manor Farm . The ending was sad it shows how power turns comrades into tyrannical dictators. --Diksha Mahajan Aug 14, 2012George Orwell is probably one of the few authors who has more than one book featuring regularly in the all the favorites of most people. In such a short book, we get to experience the entire range of the human emotions - probably characterized by the animals. But, what this book basically makes us realize is the fact that politics is relevant at all times. --Deep Agrawal Mar 2, 2012About the AuthorAbout the Author: The author of Animal Farm is George Orwell. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair. He was a very popular novelist, essayist, critic and journalist. His works spoke out against the social injustice that was prevalent at that time. He was in favour of democratic socialism and was opposed to totalitarianism. He continues to be held in high esteem as one of the most influential voices of his time, who spoke out about the English culture, as it was, during his lifespan.

Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell''s ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within society.Orwell, himself a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian government in the novel after Stalinist Russia.More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within politics and the ways in which they are manipulated. The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a totalitarian superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking.Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Outer Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters into a forbidden relationship with a colleague, Julia, and starts to remember what life was like before the Party came to power. Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. It also popularised the term "Orwellian" as an adjective, with many terms used in the novel entering common usage, including "Big Brother", "doublethink", "Thought Police", "thoughtcrime", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "2 + 2 = 5", "proles", "Two Minutes Hate", "telescreen", and "Room 101". Time included it on its 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.It was placed on the Modern Library''s 100 Best Novels, reaching No. 13 on the editors'' list and No. 6 on the readers'' list.In 2003, the novel was listed at No. 8 on The Big Read survey by the BBC.Parallels have been drawn between the novel''s subject matter and real life instances of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and violations of freedom of expression among other themes.