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'Anyone who wants to understand the twentieth century will still have to read Orwell.' - Timothy Garton Ash, New York Review of Books This outstanding collection brings together Orwell's longer, major essays and a fine selection of shorter pieces that includes 'My Country Right or Left', 'Decline of the English Murder', 'Shooting an Elephant' and 'A Hanging'. With great originality and wit Orwell unfolds his views on subjects ranging from a revaluation of Charles Dickens to the nature of Socialism, from a comic yet profound discussion of naughty seaside picture postcards to a spirited defence of English cooking. Displaying an almost unrivalled mastery of English plain prose style, Orwell's essays challenge, move and entertain. 'Anyone who wants to understand the twentieth century will still have to read Orwell.' Timothy Garton Ash, New York Review of Books