Although best known as the author of "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-Four", George Orwell left an even more lastingly significant achievement in his voluminous essays, which dealt with all the great social, political, and literary questions of the day and exemplified an incisive prose style that is still universally admired. Included among the more than 240 essays in this volume are Orwell's famous discussion of pacifism, "My Country Right or Left"; his scathingly complicated views on the dirty work of imperialism in "Shooting an Elephant"; and his very firm opinion on how to make "A Nice Cup of Tea".

In his essays, Orwell elevated political writing to the level of art, and his motivating ideas - his desire for social justice, his belief in universal freedom and equality, and his concern for truth in language - are as enduringly relevant now, a hundred years after his birth, as ever.