Orwell: The New Life
By DJ Taylor
Constable £30
Why – how – does Orwell matter? It is because of Animal Farm.
Like so many decent people, Orwell espoused the aspirations of the Left during the dark years of the European dictatorships. Being honest as well as decent, he saw how inexorably the idealistic dreams of the William Morris socialist era developed into the Gulag.
And he told the story with immense sympathy, pathos and humour, making