Orwell's England: George Orwell

Much of George Orwell`s best writing, brought together in this collection, is concerned with his complex, often contradictory attitude to England. In the brilliantly perceptive The English People, he lists the national characteristics as `suspicion of foreigners, sentimentality about animals, hypocrisy, exaggerated class distinctions and an obsession with sport`. The Road to Wigan Pier, his blistering account of poverty in the north of England, and many of his essays, attack what he called `the most class-ridden country under the sun`, while other writings here ruminate on the merits of cricket, gardening, roast dinners, pubs, tea and seaside postcards.

Edited by Peter Davison with an Introduction by Ben Pimlott