Orwell in Spain

by George Orwell, Christopher Hitchens (Foreword), Peter Davison (Editor)

The volume collects together, for the first time ever, Orwell's writings on his experience of the Spanish Civil War - the chaos at the Front, the futile young deaths for what became a confused cause, the antique weapons and the disappointment many British Socialists felt on arriving in Spain to help. ORWELL IN SPAIN includes the complete text of HOMAGE TO CATALONIA.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Biography, Essays

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

About the author

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes Homage to Catalonia as well as all letters, articles and reviews relating to the Spanish Civil War.

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains all the letters written to, from, and about Orwell in connection with Spain. This book includes Homage to Catalonia and the essay Looking Back on the Spanish War that contains his famous comment about the concept of objective truth fading out of the world.

Homage to Catalonia contains all his war time experiences including fighting on the front line, being in command of men, and being shot in the throat by a sniper.

[J.W. Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a number of documents, such letters to and from George Orwell pertaining to the time he spent in Spain in the 1930s fighting for the Spanish Revolution. But by far the most important item included in ORWELL IN SPAIN is Orwell's book, HOMAGE TO CATALONIA. This work is Orwell's first hand account of his experience fighting alongside socialists, communists, and anarchists in Spain, and I cannot stress how much this book is a political education in itself.

We have for years been hearing various commentators from the political centre and the right using Orwell as their sock puppet to criticize socialism or communism (1984 and ANIMAL FARM spring to mind here) without paying any attention to the fact that Orwell himself was a committed lefty and opposed Stalinism precisely because Orwell, unlike Stalin, was a socialist. There is not, however, any way HOMAGE TO CATALONIA can be glazed with a bourgeois varnish to make it look as if Orwell was ever chumming up with capitalism against the working class or socialism, and that is why in the popular consciousness HOMAGE TO CATALONIA is not present.

Orwell analyzes not only the military fighting at the front, in which he took an active part, but the propaganda and political struggle that took place on the home front. I know of no other work that does such a thing in such thoughtful detail, and with full regard to the personal, human, and even spiritual dimension of politics. If you want to hear from a man who is eminently thoughtful, practical, AND idealistic, Orwell is your man.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not going to go too much in depth with a review of 'Homage to Catalonia' (which the full version is included here - see my previous review), but this book contains probably most of the correspondence Orwell had, both with his wife whilst in Barcelona, and also the reviews he wrote of other authors and journalists' articles, pamphlets and books about the Spanish Civil War, as well as defending his own book, in the aftermath. What I believe George Orwell found most inspiring about the whole affair, especially during the first year of the civil conflict, was the revolutionary élan amongst the population; some of the most radical things occurred at the beginning, from land collectivisation to a certain equality amongst the Loyalist civilians on the Government side. The militias, which were later disbanded when the Communist-controlled Negrin Government gained power, were based on an non-hierarchical ethos, and probably, during the early days of the attempted coup by the Nationalists, managed to save the elected Republican Government from a defeat. Women were allowed to fight, but that changed slowly as time progressed and the Stalinists slowly started to gain influence and control; the early period, up until the May days of 1937, inspired Orwell on so many levels and he writes excitedly about what he witnesses when he arrived in Spain in December '36.

Orwell writes in great depth to various authors and journalists about the betrayal of the more radical elements in Spain, such as the quasi-Trotskyist POUM and Anarchist CNT-FAI after the May days, by the Communist Party. He goes into quite some depth defending the POUM (whom he fought with) from the accusations of 'Trostky-Fascism', and the disappearance and very certain murder of Andres Nin, their leader. Whilst Orwell never was a Trotskyist, he was treated as one for his association with the POUM, and ended up leaving Barcelona in June 1937 or he would undoubtedly have ended up in the dreadful Spanish Prisons (they had no habeas corpus) as happened to his friend Bob Smillie who died in prison, again for his association with the POUM. Most of Orwells letters detail his disillusionment with the suppression of the more radical sections of the Republican Government, not coming from Franco, but actually from Stalinist Russia. He blames their liquidation on the fact that Russia was the only country to give aid to the Republic, hence influencing their domestic and military policy. He writes that the war was lost by mid-1937 because of the dissension and lack of proper aid received, whilst Franco was getting troops and high-grade military gear direct from both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Allied nations of Britain and France come into Orwell invective because of the non-intervention policy they adopted towards the (elected) Republic. In fact he accuses Britain of being pro-Franco and would prefer a Franco victory rather than a Socialist one.

George Orwell wrote the truth as he saw it; the vagaries of Stalinism are all too well exposed in his correspondence, which caused him great disillusionment with Soviet-Communism in the aftermath of the war, which probably caused the genesis of his most famous works - Animal Farm and 1984. I will leave you with this quote, which in a single paragraph can safely summarise this collection of letters and reviews:

"The Spanish war and other events in 1936-7 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it."

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Orwell certainly needs no endorsement from me. But still, it's impossible to read this and not comment. You're left with the feeling that such a book would be impossible to write today, but then perhaps it was all but impossible then too. I wonder: is there anyone as humane and educated as Orwell willing to enlist to fight and die for what he thinks is right? Hard to imagine. Hard to imagine even Orwell's willingness to suffer cold and hunger and lice.
He does accomplishes something else we almost never see -- he concedes when he is wrong, and he is willing to criticize those who claim to hold the same principles as he does. Perhaps journalism and thinking in general has always been as predictable and hollow as it is today. But with Orwell, even as he realizes he has been grossly betrayed, his thinking is lucid and honest. For someone so wiling to fight, it is astonishing that Orwell is so free of partisanship.
Finally, he writes about the present as though he were seeing it from the future. That is, his perspective on the mid-twentieth century could be a contemporary historian's, rather than the view of a guy who was in the trenches. For this reason (among others), this book doesn't feel dated in the least. As a testament to what it decent and honest, and as a portrait of the other extreme of human nature, not only as a feat of journalism, this is a masterpiece.

[E. G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introduction
Editorial Note
Acknowledgements

--Orwell's Journey to Spain
--Extract from 'As I Please', 42 (The journey to Spain), Tribune, 15 September 1944
--Jennie Lee to Margaret M. Goalby, 23 June 1950: Orwell's Arrival in Barcelona
--Orwell in Spain, December 1936
--Extract from Letter from Eileen Blair to Leonard Moore, 31 January 1937
--'British Author with the Militia', The Spanish Revolution: Bulletin of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM)
--Letter from Eileen Blair to her mother, 22 March 1937
--Letter to Eileen Blair, 5? April 1937
--Extract from Letter from Eileen Blair to Leonard Moore, 12 April 1937
--Letter from Eileen Blair to her brother, Dr Laurence ('Eric') O'Shaughnessy, 1 May 1937
--Extract from Letter to Victor Gollancz, 1 May 1937
--Orwell's Wound
--Letter to Cyril Connolly, 8 June 1937
--Letter from Eileen Blair to Dr Laurence ('Eric') O'Shaughnessy, c. 10 June 1937
--Escape from Spain
--Reports on Eric and Eileen Blair to Tribunal for Espionage and High Treason, Valencia
--Report on Charles Doran
--Homage to Catalonia
--'Spilling the Spanish Beans', New English Weekly, 29 July and 2 September 1937
--Letter from Eileen Blair to John McNair, 29 July 1937
--Letter from George Kopp to Dr Laurence O'Shaughnessy, 7 July 1937
--Letter from George Kopp to Lt.-Col. Burillo, Chief of Police, Barcelona, 7 July 1937 (translation)
--Letter from George Kopp to Eileen Blair, 8 July 1937
--Review: Franz Borkenau, The Spanish Cockpit; John Sommerfield, Volunteer in Spain, 31 July 1937
--Letter to Rayner Heppenstall, 31 July 1937
--'Eye-Witness in Barcelona', Controversy, August 1937
--Abstracts of Reports on the Spanish Civil War in the Daily Worker and News Chronicle, 1936-7
--Letter to Amy Charlesworth, 1 August 1937
--Letter to Charles Doran, 2 August 1937
--Unpublished response to Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War, 3-6 August 1937
--Letter to Geoffrey Gorer, 15 September 1937
--Review: Mary Low and Juan Brea, Red Spanish Notebook; R. Timmermans, Heroes of the Alcazar; Martin Armstrong, Spanish Circus, 9 October 1937
--Letter to H. N. Brailsford, 10 December 1937
--Review: Mairin Mitchell, Storm Over Spain; Arnold Lunn, Spainish Rehearsal; E. Allison Peers, Catalonia Infelix; José Ortega y Gasset, Invertebrate Spain, 11 December 1937
--Letter from H. N. Brailsford to Orwell, 17 December 1937
--Letter to H. N. Brailsford, 18 December 1937
--Review: G. L. Steer, The Tree of Gernika; Arthur Koestler, Spanish Testament, 5 February 1938
--Letter to the Editor, Time and Tide: '"Trotskyist" Publications', 5 February 1938
--Letter to Raymond Mortimer, 9 February 1938
--Letter to Stephen Spender, 2 April 1938
--Letter to Geoffrey Gorer, 18 April 1938
--'Notes on the Spanish Militias'
--To the Editor, The Times Literary Supplement, 14 May 1938
--Letter from Sir Richard Rees to Orwell, 25 May 1938
--Letter to the Editor, The Listener, 16 June 1938
--Review: Robert Sencourt, Spain's Ordeal; Anonymous, Franco's Rule, 23 June 1938
--Review: Frank Jellinek, The Civil War in Spain, 8 July 1938
--Review: The Duchess of Atholl, Searchlight on Spain, 16 July 1938
--Letter to the Editor, Manchester Guardian, 5 August 1938
--Letter to Yvonne Davet, 18 August 1938
--Letter to Raymond Postgate, 21 October 1938
--Summary of article from La Flèche, 14 October 1938
--Review: E. Allison Peers, The Church in Spain, 1737-1937; Eoin O'Duffy, Crusade in Spain, 24 November 1938
--Letter to Frank Jellinek, 20 December 1938
--'Release of George Kopp', Independent News, 23 December 1938
--'Caesarean Section in Spain', The Highway, March 1939
--Letter to Yvonne Davet, 19 June 1939
--Review: Nancy Johnstone, Hotel in Flight, December 1939
--Review: S. Casado, The Last Days of Madrid; T. C. Worsley, Behind the Battle, 20 January 1940
--Review: E. Allison Peers, The Spanish Dilemma; Charles Duff, A Key to Victory: Spain, 21 December 1940
--Extract from War-time Diary, 22 January 1941
--Review: Arturo Barea, The Forge, September 1941
--Extract from Letter to Partisan Review, 23 September 1941
--Extract from BBC Weekly News Review for India, 22 (Comparison with the Spanish Civil War), 16 May 1942
--'Looking Back on the Spanish War' (1942?), New Road, January 1943?
--Proposed BBC Broadcast on the Spanish Civil War, 3 December 1942
--Review: E Allison Peers, Spain in Eclipse, 1937-1943; Lawrence Dundas, Behind the Spanish Mask, 28 November 1943
--Extracts from 'As I Please', 10, (How the lie becomes truth), Tribune, 4 February 1944
--'The Eight Years of War: Spanish Memories', Observer, 16 July 1944
--Review: Charles d'Ydewalle, An Interlude in Spain, 24 December 1944
--Review: Arturo Berea, The Clash, 24 March 1946
--Orwell's Pamphlet Collection: Spanish Civil War
--A Summary of letters from and to David Astor, 4 and 5 March 1949

Further Reading
Index

[Paul Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of first few months of the civil war as the city of Barcelona embraced not just a resistance movement, but a revolutionary movement spontaneously formed by the workers committees and union activists. The background to Orwell's involvement and growing politicisation is finally contextualised by this collection of letters and articles as well as the updated edit of the book. Perhaps even more revealing is the insight it leaves you as to the origins of 1984 and Animal Farm, the original events that led to the writing of these two classic novels were heavily rooted in the civil War and the persecution by Stalin and the liberal left-wing press in the aftermath.
Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Spain today and the context of the great ideological battles of the 1930's.

[Steve Gillway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the real deal. A sort of Homage to Catalonia deluxe, with extra letters, reviews and essays connected to Spain. It emphasises the importance of the these experiences- at the sharp end - on 1984 and Animal Farm. This experience of the Spanish civil war can help us in the present looking at modern civil wars like Syria, underlining the difficulty of making sense of the conflict and understanding the ideology behind the actions of the major players on the ground and in foreign capitals. We need more of his ilk now.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orwell in Spain is basically a significantly extended edition of Homage to Catalonia with content culled from Davison's Complete Orwell set, to the extent that with the added content of letters and other primary sources, far more context is provided for things like the persecution of POUM and the need for Orwell and his wife's escape.

Honestly, it feels almost like reading another piece of work.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

“For some reason, all the best matadors were Fascists”.
Absolutely loved Orwell’s insightful account on his experience during the tragic Spanish Civil War, duly complemented with the right doses of Brit humour and his usual wit and surprisingly prophetic vision.
Together with ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’, this makes G.O. easily one of my favourite authors of the 20th century.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiradora crónica de lo que vivió Orwell en la Guerra Civil española y triste denuncia de los crímenedes estalinistas intentando ahogar la revolución española.

[Brian Mikołajczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays and letters by George Orwell about his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War when he took up arms for the POUM. This collection also includes his work on the war, Homage to Catalonia.

This is an excellent work which provides information about various aspects of the Spanish Civil War and Fascism in Europe at large in genera during the period.

[Nosemonkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent edition (near 400 pages in my paperback), with Homage to Catalonia (a book I've been meaning to read for years) followed by various reviews, articles, letters and the like examining the Spanish Civil War. I'll confess I merely skimmed these, as the main event was sufficient for me - but from that skimming, the thought that went into the selection was evident.

[Chris Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing!

I found this book astonishing and absorbing. I have been working through all of Orwell’s work which is published by Penguin and truly found this account of his involvement in the Spanish civil war amazing. Here is one of the most authentic accounts, as far as I can tell, of what war is actually like - boredom, lice, hunger, cold, snipers, random death, rats (how Orwell hated rats!), stench, comradeship, danger, betrayal are all there and written in what I find to be the most simple and readable style. I learned so much about the civil war but also about the politics of betrayal and the global context of the British response to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin that had never quite made sense to me in the past. I found the details fascinating and the analysis of the motives of the various parties involved absolutely absorbing.
The centre piece is of course the Homage to Catalonia itself which I will read and reread many times in the years to come. But the context given by the many letters and review articles contained in this collection is so important. Piece after piece repeats the same message about the lies told by what Orwell saw as the counter revolutionary communist/ Russian/Stalin supported government and its dual objectives of both defeating the Franco fascists (supported by Germany and Italy) and reversing the revolution that had been achieved by the Spanish anarchists and other groups. It is very repetitive but that just hammers home the devil of a job Orwell had in getting people in England to understand what was really going on in Spain and the efforts that he made through his writings to tell what he saw as the truth.
The book and extracts introduce some big characters in Orwell’s life including his commandant the enigmatic Georges Kopp and Orwell’s wife Eileen who had such a major influence in his best work. They also include some themes that can be seen in later work, especially 1984, such as control of history, control of language, the role of propaganda, imprisonment without charge, show trials, rapidly switching political alliances etc. Here Orwell faces totalitarianism directly and is lucky to survive to tell the tale.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orwell's experience during the Spanish Civil War had a major impact on his life, both philosophically and physically. Homage to Catalonia is an enlightening book about the realities of war, and helps explain how Orwell's militia was "outlawed" by the government despite fighting to suppress Franco's fascists in the first place.

The real joy of this edition, however, is the inclusion of letters written before and during the events described in Homage, reviews of other books written about the Civil War, and essays and articles written, reflectively, years later.

Two of the highlights from the second half of this book are the essays "Caesarean Section in Spain" and "Looking Back on the Spanish War."

The former, written in 1939, retains hope that Franco will be defeated. "Given a Government victory [over Franco, which didn't happen], it seems much likelier that Spain will develop into a capitalist republic of the type of France than into a socialist state. What seems certain, however, is that no regression to a semi-feudal, priest-ridden regime of the kind that existed up to 1931 or, indeed, up to 1936, is now possible."

The latter, given the historical foundation and personal context present elsewhere in the book, points toward the formation of Orwell's two masterpieces, Animal Farm and 1984. Was he still an optimist in 1942? "I myself believe, perhaps on insufficient grounds, that the common man will win his fight sooner or later, but I want it to be sooner and not later -- some time within the next hundred years, say, and not some time within the next thousand years. That was the real issue of the Spanish War, and of the present war, and perhaps of other wars yet to come."

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

More or less the complete collection of Orwell's written word about the Spanish Civil War, including of course Homage to Catalonia. Includes both his very personal experience of the hardships of a trench warfare soldier, and his more general political reflections on the situation, and on P.O.U.M. in particular (the militia he personally joined).

The political intrigues of the Spanish Civil War he describes seems to be very complicated. Perhaps his most important point is his criticism of western democracies lack of will to support the Spanish Republicans. Leaving Spain caught between Hitler and Mussolini supported fascists, and Stalin supported communists among the Republicans.

For me personally, it was my interest in Orwell primary and the Spanish Civil War secondary that led me to this work. If you want the most up to date information on the Spanish Civil War, you might perhaps be better advised to consult some modern scholarship (what do I know). Orwell himself concedes that his view of it might contain inaccuracies and biases, as I guess is natural when one is caught the middle of a very chaotic situation.

Orwell expressed great concern about how the history of the Spanish Civil War would be recorded, he feared it would be full of appalling lies and propaganda. "This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world." This experience seems pretty obviously to have influenced his later novel 1984. Overall this left me wondering whether modern scholarship has dispelled his fears or not, so I might have to look into it now.

[Timothy Morrison]

Has about the same feel as 1984, the manipulation of speech

[Benjamin Speers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had I not known this was Orwell's true account of his time in Spain, I would have marked it down as fantastic satire.

War is usually glorified or condemned; Homage to Catalonia is one of the few eorks that portrays it as comical in its mundanity. Orwell displays almost no hesitancy to mow down fascists in their hundreds, and it becomes hilarious when he ends up chasing a Franquist around a trech trying and failing to impale him like a Benny Hill sketch.

The dynamic between the Revolutionaries and the capitalist forces of the Republic is both darkly funny and immensely telling, especially as the latter paradoxically includes the communists. Both sides want to surpress the other, but they can't as they need the other to beat Franco. As a result, Franco's men become no more than the enemy in the distance; the climax of the book hardly mentions them at all, the true enemy of the left being...the left. That we all know this infighting comes to nothing as the fascists win anyway would strike me as a political satire too on the nose if it wasn't all terribly real.

Orwell himself seems almost painfully aware of how absurd it all is; he notes how the individual Assault Guards are unfailingly nice and harbour no ill-will to the Anarchists even as they destroy their revolution.

Strongly recommend.

[Adam Cuninghame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not the perfect choice for a light summer read, but greatly enlightening, and even - perhaps not the right word - enjoyable.
I started reading this with little to no knowledge of the Spanish Civil War, and found in these pages a wealth of knowledge, told in 1st person, and Orwell always doing his best to remain impartial.
It is worth noting he did not always succeed. In one particular review he criticizes another reviewer for using a review of his book (Homage to Catalonia) largely to push their own political viewpoint, something Orwell himself did on several occasions. In another article, he claims that the Spanish Government had a very good chance of winning. A matter of months later, an essay states the government never had any chance, and that it was clear to anyone from quite early in the war.
Saying that, these (and a few others) are rather minor complaints/critiques. Perhaps the strongest recommendation I can give on Orwell's political writing, is that it managed to shift my political views - and that those views were vastly different to Orwell's own. In truth, a master of his craft. It is also interesting to see his fascination with truth and governmental influence over it begin to form, of course eventually leading to the creation of 1984.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Homage to Catalonia, a masterful memoir of the Spanish Civil War, this volume contains a comprehensive selection of Orwell's writings on Spain. Except for the essay "Looking Back on the Civil War," none of the writings reaches the level of the Homage; however, they do elucidate Orwell's opinions on the consequences and global impact of the war. Through it all, one senses his passion for historical truth. He reserves his greatest odium for liars, whether they be politicians or intellectuals, friends or foes.

When reading Orwell, I always wonder where such clear-sighted, non-partisan political writing can be found these days. Christopher Hitchens, who wrote the introduction to this book, saw himself as such a writer, but he became an inebriated jingoist after 9/11. Nowadays, it is easier to predict what a writer will say about a given current event based on that writer's earlier pieces rather than anything substantive in the event itself. Orwell's approach sounds so reasonable and seems so direct that it is only the absence of such a voice that shows what an accomplishment it is. Or perhaps, more sinisterly, forums for such thought have disappeared.

[Peter Szabo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is said that if one wants to read Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, one should read this Penguin addition. I agree. There is something remarkable about Orwell's writing. In nearly every instance, his ideas are clear and his writing is clear. In this case, the reader feels literally with him on the journey to the Spanish civil war, the staging, organizing (if it can be called that...), and preparation for battle, his wounding and recovery, and his estrangement and reflection. Orwell's writing is especially good here, and the story of estrangement from impractical, and dangerous, idealism is one that again resonates today.

[Noora · Rating 5 out of 5]

The five stars go to Homage to Catalonia - the rest of the material in this book ranged from mildly interesting to pointless.

Homage to Catalonia was very interesting and a delightful read, the sort that makes you want to quote every other sentence to the nearest person. Animal Farm (which I read earlier this year) is quite a departure with its dull narrative. Homage to Catalonia is a good story as such, even without the historical and political backdrop, which I thought were given just the right amount of space.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shame that Orwell lost his radical edge, since it is here aplenty in his righteous anger at the Francoists and his condemnation of the Stalinists. Many who cite Orwell often forget his antifascism and his leftist sentiment, even if it often boiled down to what one could call a Socially-Democratic perspective. The failures and the successes of Catalonia are listed here from his perspective, however limited, and is a necessary read for any interested in being able to truly grasp Orwell's politics in his works.

[DrimbleWedge · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Homage to Catalonia” was 5 stars, as were the essays “Notes on the Spanish Militias” and “Looking back on the Spanish War”. There was also a lot of additional information found in the notes that was fascinating, particularly around the political climate he was dealing with within the left-wing media at the time.
However a lot of it was repetitive. There was a section of the book reprinting letters, which the only difference between the letters, was who it was addressed to.

[Mawr · Rating 5 out of 5]

The additional letters included in this book give more illumination of Orwell's experience during and after his participation in the Spanish Civil War.

[Amjed Oudah · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing book by the most decent writer George Orwell , the interesting part was his book Homage to catalonia, other chapters were all around the main book. no need for this extended edition.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mist read for Orwell fans. To understand 1984 this book is essential.

[Thomas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stuff. Quite dense though.