George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” Published; Savage Critique of Totalitarianism
George Orwell’s classic small book, Animal Farm, was published in London on this day. An allegory, in which one group of farm animals promise democracy to run the farm but end up seizing complete control for themselves, is widely regarded as a classic critique of totalitarianism.
Many political commentators regard Animal Farm only as a critique of communism (as did historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who reviewed the book in the New York Times when it was published in the U.S.). A more balanced view, however, sees the book as a critique of all forms of totalitarianism, whether from the political left or the right.
Orwell more fully developed his views on totalitarian and anti-democratic trends in all forms of modern government in his equally famous novel 1984, published on June 6, 1949.
Read the famous book: George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945)
And Orwell’s even more important novel: George Orwell, 1984 (1949)
Learn more about Orwell at george-orwell.org.
Read the insightful book: Thomas E. Ricks, Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom (2017)