Journalists, academics, artists, and readers on the Left and the Right consider Orwell the writer who best saw through the lies and propaganda of his tumultuous lifetime.
Orwell’s reputation was forged at the typewriter and as a participant. He was a police officer in Burma, where he experienced imperialism firsthand. Later, seeing the threat of Hitler and Fascism, he volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War and nearly lost his life when a fascist bullet pierced his neck, barely missing the carotid artery. He recovered to find that Stalin had turned on his perceived enemies on the Left, so Orwell and his brave wife, Eileen, needed to slip out of Spain before they were jailed or worse. Orwell’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, documents his time fighting for the left-leaning Loyalists against Franco’s right-wing Nationalists, who were backed by Hitler.
Orwell had a gift for recognizing the truth, and that included admitting when he was wrong. One collection of his essays is appropriately titled Facing Unpleasant Facts. Orwell was someone who would stand alone and fight for the truth, even when no one else, including his like-minded friends, agreed with him.
His publisher, Victor Gollancz, made some of the worst decisions in publishing history. He turned down Homage to Catalonia and Animal Farm, even though he held the rights to Orwell’s next books, and he lost Nineteen Eighty-Fourwhen he and Orwell dissolved their relationship over political and publishing friction.
The door that led me to Orwell’s nonfiction and essays was his Diaries, which came out in 2009 and include this gem among many: “Apparently nothing will ever teach these people that the other 99 percent of the population exist.” His adventures in hop picking, poverty, the events leading up to World War II, and his time in Morocco are all here, too. Before reading his diaries, I was like many people who had only read Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
There are multiple avenues into the world of Orwell’s nonfiction.
He was passionately concerned with documenting the plight of the poor and working class in The Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London. These well-written and engrossing first-person accounts of himself and others living in poverty have led many people to read all of Orwell.
I know people who consider the anti-imperialist Burmese Days his most compelling work. Burma was his first close look at imperialism, and after five years as a policeman, he had had enough and quit a solid government position with a secure pension. His father wasn’t pleased, but Orwell could no longer live within a system that suppressed the local people and enriched the oppressors, so he quit to write books.
“Why I Write” is an essay that influences fiction and nonfiction writers, who reference it again and again.
George Orwell is probably the most written-about writer ever, and here are the best recent books about him.
Orwell: The New Life by D.J. Taylor
D.J. Taylor received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for Orwell: The Life. Here he revisits his Orwell scholarship armed with new letters and sources that have become available for the first time. Orwell remains relevant and seems ever-changing and evolving as writers delve into different facets of his character and life. This is a must-read for any Orwell fan. This probing and thorough biography is one of the best recent books about Orwell.
The Socialist Patriot George Orwell and War by Peter Stansky
Peter Stansky taught at Harvard and then at Stanford University, retiring in 2005 as the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History. He is a prolific writer whose books include The Unknown Orwell, On Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell: The Transformation, Journey to the Frontier: Two Roads to the Spanish Civil War, and many more. You can check out all of Stansky’s books on his Goodreads profile.
World War I defined Orwell’s boyhood. Orwell became Orwell after his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, where he was shot in the neck and almost died. Orwell did what he could during World War II. He was in poor health, and the government wouldn’t allow him to fight, so he worked as a journalist with the BBC and joined the Home Guard in defense of England. When he visited Germany near the end of World War II, he despaired at the destruction and the future of mankind. Through all of this, Orwell, the ultimate cold warrior, wrote fiction and nonfiction that is more popular than ever. Orwell saw what a tyrant Stalin was early on, when most were still praising him. He was one of the first to use the term “cold war,” in his essay “You and the Atomic Bomb.”
The Socialist Patriot analyzes Orwell’s sometimes contradictory views on patriotism and socialism. Orwell’s strong stands against totalitarianism were informed and impassioned by his war experiences. Stansky uses Orwell’s essays, nonfiction, and fiction to help us understand how war shaped Orwell and was key to making him the most important political writer of the 20th century.
Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit
Solnit covers much of the same ground other Orwell books do, but she adds an angle that others do not: Orwell’s love of and passion for the natural world and gardening, and how that aligns with his anti-totalitarian sensibilities.
Solnit’s insightful reading of Orwell’s fiction and nonfiction illuminates how his love of nature is woven into his well-documented struggles against fascism, imperialism, and Stalinism. Solnit goes down many garden paths, including the dark side of the roses.
I joined the Orwell Society’s monthly Zoom call that featured Rebecca Solnit as the speaker, and she spoke eloquently about Orwell’s relevance today as well as current events, including Ukraine. I asked her which publications are in the Orwell tradition of fighting misinformation and publishing the truth, and she mentioned The Guardian.
Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit is a refreshing addition to the many books about George Orwell that keep him alive for every generation.
The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 by Dorian Lynskey
Dorian Lynskey connects Nineteen Eighty-Four to Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War, which were crucial to his becoming one of the most important writers of the twentieth century.
I’ve always puzzled over how Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. It’s so different from anything he had written before, though in some sense his focus remained on his favorite themes: political disinformation and totalitarian societies. Still, a dystopian science fiction novel was a remarkable departure from his previous fiction, and it highlights Orwell’s ability to keep growing as a writer throughout his lifetime. The Ministry of Truth sheds light on the creation of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Lynskey delves into the earlier science fiction that influenced Nineteen Eighty-Four, and he goes beyond Orwell’s lifetime to trace the novel’s continued influence.
Orwell spent his life witnessing and documenting inequality, oppression, misinformation, and totalitarianism, and he used that experience to create a dystopian masterpiece that is as important today as when it came out, if not more so.
The Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey couldn’t have come at a better time, as the fight for objective truth continues more than 75 years after Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published.
Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks
Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks is an intelligent and gripping dual biography of arguably the most important politician and writer of the twentieth century.
Orwell and Churchill were opposites in many ways: Orwell was a man of the Left; Churchill was a Tory. Orwell often criticized the Left and was one of the first to warn about the dangers of Stalin and Communism. Churchill became a Liberal for a time before he returned to the Conservatives.
Both men made daring escapes from wartime danger: Orwell during the Spanish Civil War and Churchill in the Boer War in South Africa.
Both men were fighters. In Britain’s darkest hour, Churchill’s indomitable personality rallied the country’s spirits and courage. Orwell shared his fierce resistance, but his acclaim came through the written word, and mostly after his death.
Orwell and Churchill never met, but Churchill did read Nineteen Eighty-Four twice and evidently said it was “extraordinary.” Orwell praised Churchill in his diaries and essays and believed “he was the right man for the job at the right time.”
Ricks has eloquently documented the lives of two of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century.
Read the full review of Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks.
George Orwell’s Diaries edited by Peter Davison
George Orwell: Diaries, edited by Peter Davison, changed my life, and I’m forever grateful.
Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier are two vivid works of first-person reporting by Orwell, and you’ll find a bit of both in his diaries, as well as the seeds of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Orwell’s perceptions of Churchill, the totalitarian threat, and World War II are written in real time and display his clear thinking, his gift for prose, his commitment to objective truth, and his understanding of politics. They are as fascinating as anything he wrote.
Orwell’s love of gardening and raising animals is present in abundance.
The Morocco diaries capture the flavor, politics, animals, and people of that time.
The diaries begin with a fine introduction by the late journalist and author Christopher Hitchens: “By declining to lie, even as far as possible to himself, and by his determination to seek elusive but verifiable truth, he showed how much can be accomplished by an individual who unites the qualities of intellectual honesty and moral courage.”
Orwell’s daily or weekly observations are filled with wisdom and riches. If you want to read the most revealing book about George Orwell, read his diaries.
Read Noovella’s full review of George Orwell’s Diaries.
Eileen: The Making of Orwell by Sylvia Topp
Eileen: The Making of Orwell by Sylvia Topp examines Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s life and her nine-year marriage to George Orwell.
Eileen sacrificed a career of her own to live in poverty with George Orwell. She went to Spain to support Orwell during the Spanish Civil War and played a pivotal role in helping him escape to France. She cared for an ill Orwell in Morocco. During World War II, their apartment was flattened by a Nazi bomb. They adopted a son, Richard, who is now the patron of the Orwell Society.
This biography is more about Eileen’s impact on Orwell’s books than the books themselves. Topp explains, “It became very clear to me that her profound influence on his creative work had been neglected.” Topp writes about Eileen and George as people. It’s well researched and enlightening, giving us a 360-degree view of Eileen, who was brilliant and wonderful in her own right.
Eileen: The Making of Orwell by Sylvia Topp is a biography worthy of Eileen.
Orwell and Empire by Douglas Kerr
Orwell and Empire by Douglas Kerr explores the political and ideological underpinnings of George Orwell’s work, with a particular focus on his views on imperialism and colonialism.
Kerr examines how Orwell’s experiences as a colonial police officer in Burma, and his later observations of imperialism’s effects on the working class in England, influenced his political beliefs and writing. Kerr argues that opposition to imperialism and colonialism was a central theme in Orwell’s work, and that his writing was informed by his commitment to social justice and his belief in the importance of political freedom.
Orwell and Empire by Douglas Kerr provides insight into the development of Orwell’s political views and the ways his experiences shaped his writing. Read a conversation with Douglas Kerr here. This is one of the best books about George Orwell in recent years.
Mysteries of Bowie and Other Oddities by Joseph Raffetto
Forgive the shameless plug for my own book. I don’t compare it to the other books on this list, but my historical fiction piece “Inside Orwell” offers something the other books on Orwell do not: brevity. It’s a novella, just north of 20,000 words. You can read it in two or three hours and come away with an understanding of who Orwell was and the breadth of his writing and life.
Another bonus that may interest Orwell fans is that the book includes the essay “Bowie and Berlin,” which explains why the German Foreign Office thanked David Bowie for helping bring down the Wall when he died in 2016. Bowie was also a huge fan of Orwell. He tried to get the rights to Nineteen Eighty-Four to make it into a musical, but the Orwell estate refused, so Bowie produced his own dystopian album, Diamond Dogs, which includes the songs “1984,” “Big Brother,” and “We Are the Dead.”
A BookLife Editor’s Pick: “Essential read on the interconnectedness of war and the struggle for peace.” Read the full review here.
fascinating. A thought-provoking collection of fiction and nonfiction.” Read the full review here.
Read more about Mysteries of Bowie and Other Oddities by Joseph Raffetto on Goodreads.
See on AudioBooks (3 free books), Audible/Amazon, or BN.com.
George Orwell and Russia 2+2=5
Orwell’s Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four were based on the political psyche of the Soviet Union. As the BBC World Service’s Russian Features Editor, Masha Karp had a front-row seat to how Russians perceived Orwell’s dystopian books, which reflected their own society.
Orwell died in 1950, but Karp shows us that his writing is as timely and urgent as ever, because he understood the kind of despotism that drives Putin’s Russia, which is threatening the West today.
“Many people over the decades believed that Orwell must have lived or at least been to the Soviet Union, because of his deep understanding of totalitarianism. In her brilliant and informative book, Masha Karp suggests that not much has changed and that the Russia of today under President Putin proves the point that Orwell made following his experience during the Spanish Civil War and his comments in his controversial list of 1949 where he names people in England ‘sympathetic to communism’.” ― Richard Blair, George Orwell’s adopted son and patron of The Orwell Society.
Karp’s outstanding scholarship makes this one of the best books about George Orwell, and it further confirms Orwell’s ability to see clearly and understand the nuances of a totalitarian society.
Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux
I’m a huge fan of Orwell’s Burmese Days, which was inspired by his time in colonial Burma as an imperial policeman, where he experienced racism and imperialism firsthand. It was his job to support the British Empire, which ravaged his soul and changed him. He came back determined to atone for his time there.
The prolific Paul Theroux, author of The Mosquito Coast, sets his sights on Orwell’s five years in Burma and how they changed Orwell forever. Theroux tells a riveting story of Orwell grappling with being part of the empire while being repelled by it. It’s not a book that sheds light on what the Burmese were feeling, but it is a compelling effort to understand Orwell’s time there.
Orwell’s Ghosts Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century by Laura Beers
Orwell shed light on social justice issues as well as on the tactics and lies of the totalitarian regimes of his time. In Orwell’s Ghosts, Laura Beers investigates how his work relates to the issues of today, including misinformation in the media, cultural change, and social justice.
Beers gets into the “real” meaning of “Orwellian” as well as Orwell’s still-relevant impact on today’s world.
It’s not a fawning tribute to Orwell’s greatness; it tackles his blind spots as well.
George Orwell: Life and Legacy by Robert Colls
George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, is perhaps best known for Nineteen Eighty-Four. But who was the man behind the criticism of politics, society, and popular culture, the man who opposed all forms of totalitarianism? Learn how he came from a “lower-upper-middle-class” family, attended boarding school, began writing, and worked in Burma, London, and Paris. George Orwell: Life and Legacy explains how his background shaped his writing.
Eileen O’Shaughnessy, in Her Own Words: The Complete Letters of George Orwell’s Wife, edited by Angela Smith and Sylvia Topp
If you want to know about Eric Blair’s personal life, it’s natural to wonder who influenced him, and wives can be the unsung heroines behind their husbands’ success. Eileen O’Shaughnessy was his first wife, and her own writing talent helped shape his work. Witty, brave, warm, and mischievous, with hilarious and sometimes painful honesty, these letters show the role she played in the writing style of Animal Farm and other works.
Find best books about George Orwell on Audiobooks, Amazon/Audible, and Bookstores who are not Amazon.
You’ll love Noovella’s review of George Orwell Diaries and Churchill & Orwell.
I hope you enjoyed our choices for best books about George Orwell. I will be updating this list as new books about Orwell are published.
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