'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine', wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote the novel at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished. Its savage attack on stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to the book being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fable, telling what happens when the animals drive out Mr Jones and attemt to run the ...
Read More
'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine', wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote the novel at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished. Its savage attack on stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to the book being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fable, telling what happens when the animals drive out Mr Jones and attemt to run the farm themselves, has since become a world-famous classic.
Read Less
Orwell's allegory presents a rather unflattering picture of what can happen when people readily accept whatever "truth" is told to them. He also points out how allowing those we have placed in authority over us handle everything from birth ratges to retirement can have dangerous consequences. Orwell's point is that it doesn't matter what type of government system we have; if we as individuals do not search for the truth ourselves and honestly think about what those in authority say and do, we may end up in a worse state than the one in which we currently find ourselves. Given the current political climate, this is a book people should read-- and read carefully, thinking about what we're being told every day in the media.