Customer Reviews (3)

England's greatest democratic-socialist
When people think of Orwell, they remember him as an anti-Communist and a defender of liberal democracy. This is most certainly correct, but it should also be remembered that he was also a socialist, and a socialist of the old school. In The Lion & The Unicorn, originally published as a pamphlet in the style of Paine or Cobbett, he attacks both the class system of England and its capitalist economic system. He thought that the "inefficiency of private capitalism has been proved all over Europe" and that World War II has "turned Socialism from a text-book word into a realisable policy."As a socialist, he thought that socialists had to make"our words take physical shape." He advocated a 6 point plan that would transform England into a socialist country, which included "Nationalisation of land, mines, railways, banks and major industries" and the "Limitation of incomes, on such a scale that the highest tax-free income in Britain does not exceed the lowest by more than ten to one." One gets the impression that Orwell and Castro would have found a broad area of agreement. For Orwell, freedom, democracy, and socialism, were not incompatible, but were tightly bound together. He went to fight in the Spanish Civil War for the democratic republic, but fought alongside Marxists, Trotskiests, and Anarchists. Calling himself a "democratic socialist" was no contradiction to Orwell.

However, it should be remembered that this book was written in the 1940s. The world was a different place then. The political landscape has changed. If Orwell were alive now, what would his political opinions be? Who knows? You might as well ask what would Thomas Paine's political beliefs be if he were alive today. Anyone who hazards a guess, and there have been many, usually transposes their own political beliefs onto Orwell. Only one thing is certain: Orwell was a man of his time. This book, as do his other writings, reflect this. This is why he will be remembered. To read Orwell is to capture a moment in history, articulated by a man who was deeply involved in the political life of his time, in much the same way as Paine, Hazlett, or Cobbett was. One comes to Orwell and breaths the political atmosphere of the age, and takes from him what is relevant to one's own self. What that will be will vary from one person to another. For my own part, it is satisfying to read someone who believes as passionately in socialism as he does in democracy, and argues for both with the same conviction; who believes in physical courage in fighting against injustice, -"manliness", if you will; who saw through the myth of British Imperialism; and who saw through the horrible snobbishness of the English class system.

What?
This book is an endorsement of Marx like the Irish are an endorsement of Pat Buchanan.

Orwell at his most radical.
The Lion and the Unicorn

George Orwell's The Lion and theUnicorn I believe shows him at his best,not afraid to call out forrevolution in the middle of the Blitz.In the third part of the book (TheEnglish Revolution) Orwell describes his belief that if the war is to go onthere must be a Socialist revolution in England and "The Gutters ofthe streets will flow with blood",if neccesary. This is one of hismost differential pieces of work contradicting to an extent almosteverthing else he has written .He still calls for the destruction the classsystem and a fair electoral system but now he comes out in favour of therevolution and putting across (and I believe rightfully so) the trueSocialistic principles as told by Karl Marx. His most provocative work. ... Read more

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George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is among the most widely read books in the world. For more than 50 years, it has been regarded as a morality tale for the possible future of modern society, a future involving nothing less than extinction of humanity itself. Does Nineteen Eighty-Four remain relevant in our new century? The editors of this book assembled a distinguished group of philosophers, literary specialists, political commentators, historians, and lawyers and asked them to take a wide-ranging and uninhibited look at that question. The editors deliberately avoided Orwell scholars in an effort to call forth a fresh and diverse range of responses to the major work of one of the most durable literary figures among twentieth-century English writers.

As Nineteen Eighty-Four protagonist Winston Smith has admirers on the right, in the center, and on the left, the contributors similarly represent a wide range of political, literary, and moral viewpoints. The Cold War that has so often been linked to Orwell's novel ended with more of a whimper than a bang, but most of the issues of concern to him remain alive in some form today: censorship, scientific surveillance, power worship, the autonomy of art, the meaning of democracy, relations between men and women, and many others. The contributors bring a variety of insightful and contemporary perspectives to bear on these questions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

No real new insight....
While I am a fan of David Brin, and also find some of the chapters within this book interesting, none of the authors really brought any new insight to the work 1984 or to George Orwell as a literary figure.The idea was to avoid scholars of Orwell's works to get new and fresh responses.But by doing so they also ended up going over all the old ground that those scholars have gone over for decades.Funny enough, scholars of 1984 would have known about all the same-old, same old issues and topics and may have tried to find something new to write about.
The chapters are on sex, law and politics.Yes, we've read and heard this all before.How about reading the old stuff and THEN trying to find a new angle?Sorry, but two stars is as much as this work is going to get.

A true Masterpiece
Literature-Book Review

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, published by Penguin Books

WHAT a cleverly written, a very enticing book to read with a much unexpected twist in the end.George Orwell showcases his brilliant writing skills in this marvellous book. For those who have read Animal Farm, they should know what to expect in this brilliantly written book.This book explores the rule of totalitarianism, how the world has not come to terms with totalitarianism.This should keep you in suspense from the first chapter till the last chapter.This is not for the faint hearted, but for those who are political minded.This is a true breath taking fiction.The style is not fast paced as it entices you to read more.

George Orwell writes about a world where there is no happiness whatsoever. The book is set in 1984 in a country called Oceania. This country is ruled by Big Brother with his party known as The Party.A world where laughter is tears, where love is turned to hate.A world where there are no emotions, only misery in people's hearts.`Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death.' The novel tells of how you're supposed to be a supporter of Big Brother.If you have thoughts of your own, that are resistant to Big Brother's party you die.
The protagonist is Winston Smith.He has a quest of his own.His will is to go against The Party's teachings and rules.He believes that if he wants to remain sane, he should follow his own heart and mind.

In this heart moving novel George Orwell showcases his journalistic writing skills.Even if you not keen of politics but this one is surely a winner.








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4 1/4 x 7" - 128 pages - Published by the New American Library - a fairy story - a frightening glimpse of the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

History Repeats itself,and we are doomed to repeat it.
Book is Fiction story, But sounds pretty accurate when describing the current situation and past situations of the world, and what could happen when You have Populist Leaders Emerge.The Pigs in the story are a Metaphor for Communism and Socialism and Why It never works. As well as Violence never works, or egalitarianism or other far fetched utopias never work. ... Read more

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The year 2003 was the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Orwell, one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century. In this book essays by prominent writers and scholars explain why his impact continues in a world much changed from his own. The essays explore new aspects of Orwell's life and work and his continuing relevance for the interpretation of modern social, political, and cultural affairs. Thematic topics include: the use and abuse of 1984; ideas, ideologues, and intellectuals; biography and autobiography; literary and stylistic analyses; and the reception of Orwell's work abroad. The volume is an ideal secondary source for those who continue to be influenced by Orwell's insights and for teachers of Orwell's work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unreadable
I bought this book of essays to use as a resource for a college class on Orwell (and his impact in 2008) that I will be teaching. Though the college professors praised Orwell's clear and concise style of writing, their own prose was convoluted, confusing, and impenetrable. They seemed to be writing more to display their own arcane knowledge than to impart any useful information. Academic writing at its worst!! ... Read more

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While it's said that journalism is the first draft of history, The Mammoth Book of Journalism demonstrates that sometimes the reporters have outdone the historians in analyzing great events and bringing them to life. Veteran editor and former journalist Jon E. Lewis has chosen the best articles, editorials, reviews, commentary, interviews, and reportage for this unique anthology, which spans from Charles Dickens on "Execution by Guillotine" and Mark Twain on "Americans Abroad" to contemporary reporting of the first McDonald's in Moscow and the funeral of Princess Diana. Covering such diverse topics as war, politics, sports, disasters, crime, fashion, humor, civil rights, and culture, this unique encyclopedic collection features such award-winning and event-making writers as H. L. Mencken, Martha Gellhorn, Studs Terkel, William Shirer, Harrison Salisbury, Tom Wolfe, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, John Hersey, and many more. Whether with the humor of P. J. O'Rourke, the film criticism of Pauline Kael, the observations of Bill Byrson, the book reviews of Dorothy Parker, or the political analysis of I. F. Stone, The Mammoth Book of Journalism will delight and inform not only the student of the modern newspaper but also lovers of history-in-the-making. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Mammoth Book of Journalism
It's a brilliant copy, I have been looking for this book for more than a year. And I am grateful that I could find it on Amazon.com.

An overflowing, but narrow, treasure trove.
This hefty paperback tome is an excellent addition to any library for the wealth of Anglo-American classics contained within. Here we get the great modern war stories along with cultural classics like the infamous article where John Lennon is quoted as saying the Beatles are more famous than Jesus. Many journalism collections are just dreary and dusty old collections, but the selection here is mostly enjoyable and sometimes truly great. I'd recommend this book to fellow journalists and to history buffs alike. The main trouble with the collection is its narrow casting - it is Anglo-American to the core. For this collection to be truly great - and truly a compendium of journalism - it'd need some great African voices like the column South African activist Steve Biko wrote under the byline "Frank Talk" that broke that county's censorship rules to tell the truth about apartheid. There must be other examples from around the world, but this collection is mostly an Atlantic cup of tea.

But a remarkably flavorful cup of tea at that.

Quality writing but too much war reporting.
This book has an incredible cast of writers: Hemingway, Dickens, Orwell, Churchill etc. However, if you are not a big fan of war reportage, you may want to look elsewhere. The majority of these articles are war related and although they are very well written, war is not a topic I find very interesting. Still, there a number of fascinating pieces of journalism, like the one about the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, and Dickens piece on a guillotine execution in a town square. It's worth a read but I would have liked to see more of a variety in topics. ... Read more

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It is difficult now to recall the enormous impact that George Orwell's classic dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four, had on the psyche of the western world.Written by a dying man in the grimmest of circumstances, the novel was intended as both a warning against totalitarianism and the debasement of language, and as a reaction to Orwell's personal experiences with English socialism and World War II.Clearly, "1984" has turned out differently than Orwell depicted.Yet the power of the novel remains undiminished:it continues to scare and enlighten future generations of readers nearly a half century after its original publication.Well-known scholar Robert Plank provides a psychological examination of the roots of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the curious parallels between the book and its antecedents, including the film Citizen Kane, the novels of Dostoevsky and Kafka, the philosophy of Whorf, Orwell's own life and works, and many other obvious and hidden influences.Complete with chronology, notes, bibliographies, and index. ... Read more

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From the moment we open the pages of George Orwell: A Reader's Approach it is clear that the author has a deep affection for his subject - the brilliant left-wing novelist and essayist who gave the world Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Here is an intriguingly personal view of a maverick Englishman, an eccentric genius and anti-Establishment, anti-Imperialist figure who turned away from his privileged public school background and focused on the other side of England and her Empire - poverty, brutality, prejudice and jingoism. G. Wesley McCullough takes us through Orwell's maze of near-Dickensian characters, outlines his plots, points out his inconsistencies, yet praises his passion for life and causes and his intense involvement in the world he knew. With plentiful original quotation, the text offers us rich glimpses of Orwell's literary style - and his gift for pungent observation. Highly entertaining and thoroughly rewarding, George Orwell: A Reader's Approach provides --sixty years after the publication of Animal Farm - a wonderful reminder and fresh portrait of one of the twentieth century's great authors. ... Read more

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Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Famous today for his novels 1984 and Animal Farm, George Orwell was originally known as a journalist, particularly for his "As I Please" column in the socialist journal Tribune. This collection of his journalism, never before assembled in one volume, provides an invaluable insight into the writings of a man his biographer called the "Doctor Johnson of the Left."

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2003 marks the centenary of George Orwell's birth. If John Rodden is correct, it also marks the end of the Orwell century. No other author, he convincingly argues, has left a more enduring imprint on the last one hundred years.

This assertion is amply supported in George Orwell: Scenes from an Afterlife, Rodden's masterful and wide-ranging account of the impact and appropriation of Orwell and his ideas since his death in 1950. Considered by different groups and at different times as a prophet, secular saint, model leftist, exemplary liberal, proto-neoconservative, or would-be Tory, among many other things, Orwell, "the Zelig of modern intellectuals," was a writer with whom virtually every intellectual movement of the late twentieth-century felt it must contend.

Rodden, one of the world's leading Orwell scholars, sorts through the uses to which Orwell has been put in the last few decades, suggesting where, when, and why Orwell's friends and followers have sinned in conscripting him for this or that cause. Rodden ends by arguing that although Orwell's own explicit contention that he was a socialist should not be dismissed, we must understand that he was nevertheless no progressive, but rather a thinker who fits best in the non-Marxist, radical Tory tradition of Morris, Cobbett, and Dickens. ... Read more