Book description
'Shooting an Elephant' is Orwell's searing and painfully honest account
of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma; killing an
escaped elephant in front of a crowd 'solely to avoid looking a fool'.
The other masterly essays in this collection include classics such as
'My Country Right or Left', 'How the Poor Die' and 'Such, Such were the
Joys', his memoir of the horrors of public school, as well as
discussions of Shakespeare, sleeping rough, boys' weeklies and a
spirited defence of English cooking. Opinionated, uncompromising,
provocative and hugely entertaining, all show Orwell's unique ability to
get to the heart of any subject.
Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in India in 1903. He was
educated at Eton, served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and
worked in Britain as a private tutor, schoolteacher, bookshop
assistant and journalist. In 1936, Orwell went to fight for the
Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded. In 1938 he was
admitted into a sanatorium and from then on was never fully fit.
George Orwell died in London in 1950.
Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting
Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include
Friends in High Places, The English and The Political
Animal. He lives in Oxfordshire.
