Seeing Things as They Are

Celebrated for his novels and essays, Orwell was first and foremost a journalist and he remains one of our very best commentators. Confronting social, political and moral dilemmas head-on, Orwell was fearless in his writing: a champion of free speech, a defender against social injustice and a sharp-eyed chronicler of the age. But his work is also timeless, and pieces on immigration, Scottish independence and a Royal Commission on the Press still resonate today. Orwell had an almost unique ability to get to the heart of the matter, distilling important events and ideas into clear, pithy prose, and he was a master of subtle observation. On his return to Paris in February 1945 as War Correspondent for the Observer, he noted how the once numerous Parisian pigeons had disappeared, writing simply: 'They have been eaten.' Orwell wrote articles and essays for a number of journals and newspapers, and was a voracious reader and patron of the arts, as his many book, theatre and film reviews attest. Almost half of his 80 'As I Please' weekly columns, written while literary editor of the Tribune during the 1940s, are collected here, and they range over topics as diverse as the purchase of rose bushes from Woolworth's to the Warsaw Uprising. Whether political, poetic, polemic or personal, this is surprising, witty and intelligent writing to delight in. Published in a one-volume edition for the first time, this engaging collection of Orwell's journalism shows him at the height as his powers, and illuminates our understanding of his work as a whole.