Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (50th Anniversary Edition)

179 pp. Pictures by Ralph Steadman. 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.