Animal Farm
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George Orwell’s classic satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist ideals through an animal fable.
The animals of Mr. Jones’s Manor Farm are overworked, mistreated, and desperately seeking a reprieve. In their quest to create an idyllic society where justice and equality reign, the animals of Manor Farm revolt against their human rulers, establishing the democratic Animal Farm under the credo, “All Animals Are Created Equal.” Out of their cleverness, the pigs—Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball—emerge as leaders of the new community. In a development of insidious familiarity, the pigs begin to assume ever greater amounts of power, while other animals, especially the faithful horse Boxer, assume more of the work. The climax of the story results in a brutal betrayal, when totalitarian rule is reestablished with the bloodstained postscript to the founding slogan: “But Some Animals Are More Equal than Others.”
This astonishing allegory, one of the most scathing satires in literary history, remains as fresh and relevant as the day it was published.
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George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blaire, was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and literary critic. He is best known for his works of social criticism and opposition to totalitarianism. He also wrote nonfiction about his experiences in the working class and as a solder. His work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective “Orwellian,"describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices, has become part of the English language. In 2008, the London Times named him the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
Ralph Cosham, a narrator with dozens of fine performances of British classics including The Wind in the Willows and The Time Machine, also records as Geoffrey Howard, whose long audiography of titles includes works by C.S. Lewis. Ralph, as Cosham or Howard, has performed more than 100 audiobooks while keeping an active stage career in regional theater. Changing careers from British journalist to actor in the 1970s, Ralph has been recording for nearly 15 years.
