Macmillan
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Published in 1945, George Orwell's famous allegorical story Animal Farm is a satire about the corrupting effects of power which reflect Orwell's views on the failures of communism. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by journalist and writer Jason Cowley. When the old Major, a highly respected white boar, gathers his fellow farm animals to preach about freedom, rebellion and the evils of man, he kicks off a revolution that has been brewing for years. The animals drive out their drunken farmer, Mr Jones, and create their own society which promises equality for all. Two scheming pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, appoint themselves leaders and what begins as a supposedly equalitarian community descends into an increasingly violent and hierarchical society permeated by lies and corruption.
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George Orwell''s Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the most famous and influential novels of the 20th century. This terrifying dystopia, which he created in a time of great social and political unrest, remains acutely relevant and influential to this day. Part of the Macmillan Collector''s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by writer and journalist Dorian Lynskey. The year is 1984. The country is impoverished and permanently at war, people are watched day and night by Big Brother and their every action and thought is controlled by the Thought Police. Winston Smith works in the department of propaganda, where his job is to rewrite the past. Spurred by his longing to escape, Winston rebels. He breaks the law by falling in love with Julia, and, as part of the clandestine organization the Brotherhood, they attempt the unimaginable - to bring down the Party.
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Homage to Catalonia is a bracing personal account of George Orwell''s time fighting for the Republican army in the Spanish Civil War. Part of the Macmillan Collector''s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Helen Graham, a leading historian on the Spanish Civil War. George Orwell came to Spain in 1936 as a journalist, intending to report on the civil war. But on arrival in Barcelona he witnessed a revolution against the Spanish bourgeois in full swing - with the working class in the saddle - and almost immediately he joined the Republican militia to fight for this worthy cause. In Homage to Catalonia Orwell retells his experience of the Spanish Civil War with brutal honesty, from the painful stasis of the front line to the mania of street fighting, and from the tension of being in hiding to the relief of coming home to England. A unique first-hand account of war, it is also critical in our understanding of Orwell''s political passions.
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Orwell''s first published book, Down and Out in Paris and London , is at once a very personal account, an expose of poverty-stricken lives between the wars, and a call for social and economic reform. Part of the Macmillan Collector''s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by writer Lara Feigel. Towards the end of the 1920s, whilst living in Paris, Orwell''s few remaining funds are stolen and he falls into a life of severe poverty. Living hand to mouth, with barely a centime to his name, he shares squalid lodgings with Russian-born Boris and, for a while, finds tedious and back-breaking work as a ''plongeur'' - washing up in the bowels of Paris restaurants. Back in England he lives as a tramp, finding occasional shelter in dangerous and filthy doss houses.
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In Burmese Days , George Orwell brilliantly evokes the sounds and sights of Burma and reveals, in unflinching detail, the dark side of colonial rule. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by journalist and writer, David Eimer. John Flory is a disillusioned timber merchant based in the remote town of Kyauktada in 1920's Burma. Whilst his English peers gather night after night to drink and gossip in their exclusive club, Flory has embraced local life - his best friend is Dr Veraswami and his mistress is Ma Hla May. The slow, stickily hot days are interrupted by the arrival of the young and beautiful Elizabeth. And when the club is forced to elect a non white member, Flory is caught up in an increasingly hostile and dangerous feud.
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George Orwell wrote extensively about English life and politics. The selection of essays and journalism in Orwell and England brings together some of his most provocative and insightful writing on England and Englishness. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Professor Michael Gardiner. Orwell's interests were broad. He often wrote about everyday concerns such as transport, food and the weather. Turning to social issues, he exposed the plight of the poor and the unemployed. He dissected the idea of nationalism and he examined the failings of the Left. What emerges from his acute observation of English rituals, habits and attitudes is his belief that these are the very things with which the English people can defend themselves against oppression. His writing remains insightful and prescient to this day.
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The Road to Wigan Pier is a book in two parts: the first half is Orwell''s description of working-class life in industrial communities of the north of England, the second examines his own political views. Part of the Macmillan Collector''s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Amelia Gentleman. The Road to Wigan Pier is an insightful and powerful account of lives lived in poverty and deprivation in a time of low wages and meagre government support. Orwell describes dismal housing (including the lodging house where he stays), harsh working conditions and the devastating effects of unemployment. And he also vividly describes the courage and dignity of the people he meets. In the second half of the book, Orwell examines his own political and social affiliations with an impressive ability to provoke and to question. He defends middle-class values whilst critiquing the failures of his own class, he advocates socialism whilst criticizing the socialist movement in England.
