Includes bibliographical references and index.

The best of Orwell's journalism, published in one volume for the first time, selected by leading expert Peter Davison. Celebrated for his novels and essays, Orwell remains one of our very best journalists and commentators. Confronting social, political and moral dilemmas head-on, he 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. He 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 popular '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. This engaging collection of Orwell's less familiar writing shows him at the height of his powers, and illuminates our understanding of his work as a whole.