Description
Book SynopsisA critical account of George Orwell's politics, exploring his anti-fascism, criticism of the USSR and enduring commitment to socialism
Trade Review'George Orwell remains one of the most influential thinkers in the world today. Here, John Newsinger, in his insightful, lucid, engaging and original examination of the evolution of Orwell's politics, shows precisely why' -- Richard Lance Keeble, Professor of Journalism, Lincoln University, and Chair of the Orwell Society
'This book confirms John Newsinger's status as one of our leading Orwell scholars. Clear, wide-ranging and bracingly polemical, it casts new light on the way that Orwell's response to the events of his time was shaped by his idiosyncratic brand of radical socialism.' -- Philip Bounds, author of Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell (2009)
Table of ContentsAbbreviations
Introduction: Discovering Orwell
1. ‘Until They Become Conscious They Will Never Rebel’: Orwell and the Working Class
2. ‘Why I Join the ILP’: Orwell and the Left in the Thirties
3. ‘Giants are Vermin’: Orwell, Fascism and the Holocaust
4. ‘A Long Series of Thermidors’: Orwell, Pacifism and the Myth of the People's War
5. ‘It is Astonishing How Little Change has Happened’: Orwell, the Labour Party and the Attlee Government
6. 'Ceaseless Espionage’: Orwell and the Secret States
7.‘2+2=5’: Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four and the New Left
Conclusion: ‘Capitalism Has Manifestly No Future’ - Orwell Today
Notes
Index
