George Orwell's brilliant reporting and political conscience formed an impassioned picture of his life and times. Orwell was born in India and educated at Eton. He served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927. He returned to England where he lived for several years in poverty. Among Orwell's books are DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON, BURMESE DAYS and THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER. He is best known for the allegorical fable ANIMAL FARM and in the novel NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR.
George Orwell found 'the prolonged, indiscriminate reveiwing of books... a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job... The best practice, it always seemed to me, would be simply to ignore the great majority of books and give very long reviews to the few that seem to matter'. Space doesn't permit a long review here but this collection is equal to a year's, a decade's, a lifetime's reading if what you're reading isn't Orwell. Writing about his professional and political interests, his travels, and the world at large, Orwell's astute and often laconic observations are still able to hit you blindside. The collection includes 'Decline of the English Murder', 'My Country Right or Left' and 'A Hanging'. (Kirkus UK)