The Book Shelf: George Orwell's Dystopian Animal Farm on This Day in History

This day in history: The novella "Animal Farm" by George Orwell was first published on this day in 1945. Animal Farm is considered one of the top-most dystopian books on practically every list, alongside Orwell's 1984, Yevgeny Zamyatin's "WE", Huxley's "Brave New World", Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids."

"As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated animals [Animal Farm] and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As readers witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, they begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization—and in the most charismatic leaders, the souls of the cruelest oppressors."~Daisy Luther

Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005); it also featured at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels, and number 46 on the BBC's The Big Read poll. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996 and is included in the Great Books of the Western World selection.

Buy: The Folly of Socialism (40 Chapters) for 99 cents on Amazon

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Read or download Animal Farm

Listen to Animal Farm

This link is a great audio, I listened to this years ago and I never forgot it. Christopher Hitchens talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about George Orwell. Drawing on his book Why Orwell Matters, Hitchens talks about Orwell's opposition to imperialism, fascism, and Stalinism, his moral courage, and his devotion to language. Along the way, Hitchens makes the case for why Orwell matters.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/08/hitchens_on_orw.html

Listen to the entire audiobook of Orwell's 1984, something I recommend everyone read, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scqLliarGpM

Read or download 1984 at https://archive.org/details/Orwell1984preywo

Watch Christopher Hitchens on Why Orwell Matters at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5Ste5xRAA

Read: 1984 The Book That Killed George Orwell By Robert McCrum

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/10/1984-george-orwell

Eric Arthur Blair aka George Orwell by Jeff Riggenbach (1903–1950) Audio at https://mises.org/library/eric-arthur-blair-aka-george-orwell-1903%E2%80%931950

(George Orwell presents us with yet another case of a writer who was not himself a libertarian as we understand the term today, but whose last two novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, have earned him a place in the libertarian tradition.)

Read transcript at https://mises.org/library/brilliant-confused-radicalism-george-orwell

Orwell’s Big Brother: Merely Fiction? by Murray N. Rothbard

https://mises.org/library/orwell’s-big-brother-merely-fiction

What was Ayn Rand’s stance on George Orwell’s famous novel 1984? by Leonard Peikoff (podcast)

http://www.peikoff.com/2010/09/20/what-was-ayn-rands-stance-on-george-orwells-famous-novel-1984/

My hero: George Orwell by John Carey

Orwell was a truth-teller whose courage and sense of social justice made him a secular saint By John Carey

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/28/my-hero-george-orwell-john-carey

The Connection Between George Orwell and Friedrich Hayek-A tale of two anti-authoritarians by Sheldon Richman

http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/21/george-orwell-and-friedrich-hayek

Orwell's 1984 Still Matters, Though Not in the Way You Might Think

A Washington, D.C., readathon reminds us that the left once hated this anti-totalitarian classic. by Charles Paul Freund