Seeing Things as They Are

This selection of Orwell's journalism is a ceaseless delight... There is a treat on almost every page -- Alex Massie, 5 stars Daily Telegraph Orwell's luminous gift was for seeing things, for noticing what others missed, took for granted or simply found uninteresting, for discovering meaning and wonder in the familiarity of the everyday... Nothing escaped or seemed beneath his notice, which was what made him such a good reporter... [Seeing Things As They Are] is intended to be a collection first and foremost of his journalism, with preference given to lesser-known pieces and reviews as well as some of the poems he wrote. It is full of interest and curiosities -- Jason Cowley Financial Times Peter Davison gives us a feast of [Orwell's] shorter writings, showing how from such hesitant beginnings he evolved into the writer of enduring importance we know, committed to decency, equality and political honesty, who could nevertheless wax lyrical over the first signs of spring or an imaginary English pub -- Gordon Bowker Independent Davison, now in his late 80s, has grown grey in the service of Orwell Studies, but Seeing Things As They Are is one of his best efforts yet - possibly the best of all, for it succeeds in demonstrating quite how important hackwork was to Orwell's sense of his professional identity... At the same time, Seeing Things As They Are is full of dry runs, and the first stirrings of ideas that would be treated at greater length elsewhere -- DJ Taylor The National