George Orwell Boxed Set MP3 CD Author: Visit Amazon's George Orwell Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1433203278 | Format: EPUB
George Orwell Boxed Set MP3 CD Description
Review
"A wise, compassionate, and illuminating fable of our times....The steadiness and lucidity of Orwell's merciless wit are reminiscent of Anatole France and even of Swift." --
New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Inside Flap
ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is the account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm--a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. Out of their cleverness, the pigs Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball emerge as leaders of the new community in a subtle evolution that proves disastrous. The climax is the brutal betrayal of the faithful horse Boxer, when totalitarian rule is re-established with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.
WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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- MP3 CD: 200 pages
- Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.; Unabridged edition (September 3, 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1433203278
- ISBN-13: 978-1433203275
- Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
This is a handsome republication of Orwell's two most renowned works, Animal Farm and 1984. Even if you're just looking for 1984, this edition is to be commended; it comes with a fine introduction by today's leading Orwell enthusiast, Christopher Hitchens, and the reward of including Animal Farm requires very little in the way of additional effort or expense on your part. At 80-odd pages, you may as well pick it up in the same volume, and you're virtually certain to be glad that you did.
I'm not alone in being of a generation that was first required to read Orwell in my student days (Middle School, in my case.) It seems that there was a lot of literature churned out then, accessible to if not directly aimed at children, with the horrors of totalitarianism as its theme. In addition to reading Orwell, we were also reading Huxley, Bradbury, and Verne -- the youth-oriented John Christopher books being yet another example. The generation that lived through Nazism and Stalinism clearly wanted the younger set to be aware of the horrors that could be, and to remain on guard against them.
It doesn't seem to be quite that way anymore. Orwell's name is invoked today, but often in trivializing contexts: "Big Brother" is now a brain-numbing reality show, and "Orwellian" is a convenient and often hysterically-applied charge to political opponents. Some complaceny does seem to be inevitable: we are now further removed from the days when the likes of Hitler and Stalin killed tens of millions. Still, regimes arise that are nearly as horrific on a local scale, from Pol Pot to Saddam Hussein to the Taliban, and are real enough that Orwell's book is no joke.
I really wish these books were required reading when I was in school! I do remember watching the movie Animal Farm in 8th grade though, but I don't remember much of it. I was glad when I found the books here for such a reasonable price. These stories go very well with each other. I'm not going to give an entire book report on them, but here's a very basic rundown:
Animal Farm- A group of animals on a farm (duh) overthrow their cruel master. Because the pigs are the cleverest of all the animals, they establish themselves as the "leaders" (although, their motto is "All animals are equal") Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, are consistently fighting with each other on how the farm should be run. Eventually, Napoleon trains some dogs, and they run Snowball out of the farm. After that, Napoleon basically turns the farm into a dictatorship under his rule. Towards the end of the book, Napoleon changes their motto to "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
1984- In this society, based in what was once London (in the story, it is called Oceania), Big Brother controls everything and everyone. Almost every citizen has telescreens in their houses that can not be turned off. Not only do the telescreens broadcast all the time, but they also receive, so citizens could be watched, although you never know when they are watching you. The protagonist of the story, Winston, is a rebel of sorts. He purchases a diary, and writes in it (a crime punishable by death). Eventually, he ends up having an illegal romantic relationship with a woman named Julia. And, well, you'll have to read the rest, because I don't want to give too much away.
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