Product Description

revisit Orwell’s classic satire Animal Farm

As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated animals and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As readers witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, they begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization—and in the most charismatic leaders, the souls of the cruelest oppressors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5842 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04-01
• Released on: 2004-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 176 pages

Amazon.com Review
Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson

From Library Journal
This 50th-anniversary commemorative edition of Orwell's masterpiece is lavishly illustrated by Ralph Steadman. In addition, it contains Orwell's proposed introduction to the English-language version as well as his preface to the Ukrainian text. Though all editions of Animal Farm are equal, this one is more equal than others.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
A modern day fable, with modern implications in a deceiving simplicity, by the author of Dickens. Dali and Others (Reynal & Hitchcock, p. 138), whose critical brilliance is well adapted to this type of satire. This tells of the revolt on a farm, against humans, when the pigs take over the intellectual superiority, training the horses, cows, sheep, etc., into acknowledging their greatness. The first hints come with the reading out of a pig who instigated the building of a windmill, so that the electric power would be theirs, the idea taken over by Napoleon who becomes topman with no maybes about it. Napoleon trains the young puppies to be his guards, dickers with humans, gradually instigates a reign of terror, and breaks the final commandment against any animal walking on two legs. The old faithful followers find themselves no better off for food and work than they were when man ruled them, learn their final disgrace when they see Napoleon and Squealer carousing with their enemies... A basic statement of the evils of dictatorship in that it not only corrupts the leaders, but deadens the intelligence and awareness of those led so that tyranny is inevitable. Mr. Orwell's animals exist in their own right, with a narrative as individual as it is apt in political parody. (Kirkus Reviews)

Well-written, thought-provoking, funny and above all short, it is considered perfect for the attention span of the MTV generation. For those who have yet to have the pleasure it is a satire on Stalinism in which animals take over a farm. Inspired by the vision of the prize boar Old Major, the animals of Manor Farm rebel against their human masters and establish a model democratic community in which 'all animals are equal'. But power corrupts, and gradually the dictator pig, Napoleon, betrays the animals back into slavery. ('All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.') (Kirkus UK)

Customer Reviews

All Classic Books Are Good But Some Are More Good Than Others
ANIMAL FARM is a very well written little satire that actually is quite hilarious in places. Scholars of the beginnings of the former USSR may enjoy dissecting the novel and figuring out who or what on the old "Manor Farm" Orwell meant to represent what reality in Russia. Happily, the rest of us can simply enjoy the cleverly drawn animal characters who exhibit many familiar human traits. This is a great book to teach that can spark many interesting discussions that touch on history, sociology, psychology and politics while showing students qualities of good literature. Many kids who think they won't like ANIMAL FARM end up being pleasantly surprised and not just because of the brevity of the text.

Some Books are More Equal than Others
Animal Farm / 0-679-42039-8

Animal Farm is, in some ways, even more prophetic than the chilling 1984 by the same author. Though written in a whimsical fairy-tale fashion, Animal Farm carefully uncovers the slow, steady means by which a fascinating (and sometimes frightening!) ruling class can rip the rights away from the common workers.

All animals are equal, the ruling class gently assures the workers, but some animals are more equal than others. So if you could just work a little hard, a little longer, for a little less food every day, for a less comfy place to sleep on, it would really help the cause, the country. The good-natured workers nod their heads, shrug their shoulders, and press onward, but with minds clouded with doubt and pain. They are plagued with a sense of unfairness, a sense that - perhaps - the pigs that fail to contribute to the work or to the food supply, could potentially eat a little less, perhaps. Just to help the cause. But never fear! With the twin motivators of fear and awe, coupled with the numbing Lethe of little food, less rest, and no warmth, the sweet, deserving animals of Animal Farm will gladly give all their labor, life, and litters to the privileged.

After all, they may be exploited, but at least they are exploited by own of their OWN. And therein lies the absolute heart-rending tragedy of Animal Farm.

Animal Farm is instructive for our presidential election.
2008 is the ideal time to apply the principles that we have learned from Animal Farm and apply them to November's 2008 Presidential election. Just as Napolean, the pig, instigated a rebellion against the owner of the farm (Jones) by talking about how great things will be once the animals ruled the farm, today we are told by the Obama Democrats that once Bush and the Republicans are thrown off the farm (Washington), that all will be well, that things will look wonderful, and that none of us will ever be hungry again. In Animal Farm, though, the animals were far worse off after Mr. Jones was kicked off the farm. Like Obama, Napolean also did not have any experience in running a farm, but this did not stop him from stating that he would be more competent and able to handle the farm. Further, once Napolean took charge of the farm, the interests of the other animals started to decline more and more. He started to remove any sense of democratic principles by eliminating the need for public comment and strongly took action against any potential dissent. This is exactly where the Obama Democrats want to take our country--first, by stating that they (and he alone) can manage the country -- even though there is no experience to suggest that he ought to, and secondly, by eliminating any form of dissent by destroying talk radio and also by heavily regulating and taxing the internet in order to suppress the one free and open medium that is available to counter their message. The lesson of Animal Farm is clear: those who claim to provide us with utopia on earth often will create hell instead through dictatorship, centralization of authority, and a desire to obtain power for power's sake. If we learn the lessons of Animal Farm, our nation will be far better off.