Brings to life the final years of Eric Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, and the creation of his classic novel 1984. Dying of tuberculosis, Orwell sees this book as his legacy-- the culmination of a career spent fighting to preserve the freedoms which the wars and upheavals of the twentieth century have threatened.

George Orwell's 1984 had a major impact on the world when it was first released, and its themes of government surveillance, the threat of totalitarianism, and the suppression of information continue to resonate today. As readers are introduced to this novel and Orwell's other groundbreaking works of literature, including Animal Farm, they explore the many ways literature reflects the past and can help shape the future. Biographical details are presented...

Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, she has come to know all too well the many ways this police state can be described as "Orwellian." The life of the mind exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. The connection between George Orwell and Burma is not simply metaphorical, of course; Orwell's mother was born in Burma, and he was shaped by his experiences there as a young man working for the British...

"Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, award-winning writer Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own. When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shaped Orwell's work and her practical common sense saved his life. But why--and how--was she written out of the story? Using newly discovered...

"In this trenchant critical essay, Christopher Hitchens assesses the life, the achievements, and the myth of the great political writer and participant George Orwell. In his emulative and contrarian style, Hitchens is both admiring and aggressive, sympathetic yet critical, taking true measure of his subject as hero and problem. Answering both the detractors and the false claimants, Hitchens tears down the facade of sainthood erected by the hagiographers...

"NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR isn't just a novel; it's a key to understanding the modern world. George Orwell's final work is a treasure chest of ideas and memes--Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5--that gain potency with every year. Particularly in 2016, when the election of Donald Trump made it a bestseller ("Ministry of Alternative Facts," anyone?). Its influence has morphed endlessly into novels (The Handmaid's Tale), films...

"A biography of writer George Orwell that describes his era, his major works--the novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four--his life, and the legacy of his writing"--Provided by publisher.