Animal Farm: A Fairy Story

180 pp. Illustrated 50th anniversary edition featuring the artwork of Ralph Steadman, well known for his contributions to the books of Hunter S. Thompson. This edition also includes Orwell's preface to the Ukrainian edition (scarce until it was reprinted here, because the majority of the Ukrainian edition was seized and burned), and another proposed preface. A satirical look at Soviet totalitarianism using animals on a farm as an allegorical device. The revision of history by those in power is a theme that returns in Orwell's famous dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. While the setting of Animal Farm does not quite fit the parameters of a dystopian society, Orwell's work here seems to progress directly toward the speculations about future society in Nineteen Eighty-Four, common themes being the will to power, power's corrupting influence, and the obliteration of history.