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Summary: Orwell: As He Pleased
Review: In my humble estimation Orwell was, by far, the best writer of the 20th century. Overflowing with compassion for all humanity, Orwell wrote about events happening in his life as if he were reflecting on them years later. His perception of the world was so keen and his analytical senses were so acute, we are blessed to have his best writings available to us in this 4 volume set.Volume 3, I believe, is the best of this collection because it contains the bulk of the weekly, As I Please, that ran in the "Tribune" magazine from 1943-1945. This is some of his best freelance writing covering a whole range of topics. They capture the essence of his thoughts politically and socially. Here too you gain a view of life in WW2 Britain: rationing, blackouts, air raids, and, more importantly, how it felt to live through it. I would reccomend you buy all 4 volumes and start at the beginning. You will not regret the experience.
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Summary: More of Orwell¿s great writing in this excellent series
Review: This is the third of four volumes of essays put out by Nonpareil Books of George Orwell's essays and edited in part by his widow Sonia Orwell. The bulk of this volume is made up of Orwell's "As I Please" column in the left wing Tribune where he was employed as editor for the later part of WWII. These are excellent insights into British life during the war era and into the political culture of the British left of which Orwell was a member. His column's musings range from commentary on political pamphlets to the effects of the war on clothing and food. Orwell, ever the socialist, sees everything through the prism of class structure and to those who only know of his writings co-opted by the right such as "Animal Farm" and "1984" his definite left wing stance may come as a bit of a shock. He was by no means a dogmatic ideologue. The left gets the benefit of his often scathing criticisms as well as the right. Always willing to call things as he saw them, Orwell made enemies on both sides of the political spectrum. Included in volume III as well are several letters to friends and acquaintances that are political and literary in nature rather than personal. Especially noteworthy is the first essay in the volume "The English People", a rather famous piece on culture, language and class. I highly recommend this volume as well as the preceding volume II "My Country Left or Right". Orwell's essays are wonderful windows into the mind of one of the most important individuals of the twentieth century.
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Summary: I think Orwell does the world well
Review: While the recently published one-volume Essays is a worthy surrogate, nothing will beat this four volume collection. I like this volume because I enjoy the "As I Please" columns very much. Too bad that they no longer publish the book in a hardbound edition. Since the purchaser of this volume is likely to be familiar with Orwell to some degree, I won't preach to the choir. I can't remember anything I disliked. A few details about the book, there is an index, you'll find a mix of Orwell's letters, essays on diverse topics, and As I Please weekly columns during the war years. An excerpt from that column illustrates Orwell's sobering humor (I hope the copyright people don't get me): "When Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London, he occupied himself with writing a history of the world. He hand finished the first volume and was at work on the second when there was a scuffle between some workmen beneath the window of his cell, and one of the men was killed. In spite of diligent enquiries, and in spite of the fact that he had actually seen the thing happen, Sir Walter was never able to discover what the quarrel was about: whereupon, so it is said - and if the story is not true it certainly ought to be - he burned what he had written and abandoned his project." Now, Orwell shares this anecdote because he wants to make the point that "even as late as the last war (WWI) it was possible" to ascertain some degree of truth about what's going on in the world, for instance, casualty figures, because sources could be verified by cross-referencing. Orwell complains/observes, however, that in WWII "a Nazi and a non-Nazi version of the present war would have no resemblance to one another, and which of them finally gets into the history books will be decided not by evidential methods but on the battlefield." You see the journalist and perennially honest (and somewhat bitter) truth-seeker here?
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