Animal Farm

Animal Farm is George Orwell’s brilliant political satire and allegorical fable about the corrupting effects of power. Published in 1945 it is, to this day, one of the most famous and influential works of fiction ever written.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition features an introduction by journalist, award-winning writer and editor of the New Statesman, 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 incites a revolution that has been brewing for years. The animals drive out their drunken farmer and create their own society – with the promise of equality for all, two scheming pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, appoint themselves leaders. What begins as a supposedly equalitarian community descends into an increasingly violent and hierarchical society, permeated by lies and corruption. Years after publication, Orwell's words remain a stark warning against the lure of fascist populism.

If you are looking for allegorical literature to understand today’s politics, Animal Farm is a great guidepost., The Cold War Candide . . . Virtually every detail in Animal Farm allegorizes some incident in that history., Animal Farm is moving, bitter and a warning from history . . . [it] is one of the greatest socio-political works of all time., Animal Farm is a biting satire of totalitarianism . . . Orwell is unnervingly precise in the way he depicts each step on the road from revolution to tyranny.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father was a civil servant. After studying at Eton College, he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma for several years, and this inspired his first novel, Burmese Days. After two years in Paris, he returned to England to work as a teacher and then in a bookshop. In 1936 he travelled to Spain to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, where he was badly wounded. During the Second World War he worked for the BBC. A prolific journalist and essayist, Orwell wrote some of the most influential books in English literature, including the dystopian Nineteen Eighty-Four and his political allegory Animal Farm. He died from tuberculosis in 1950.

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