George Orwell has never been more quoted and misquoted. Can he be rescued from the soundbites?George Orwell remains a work in progress. He is, or has become, a meme, a global writer, a national treasure, a London statue, a scholarly society, a Prize and a Journal, a trope and a show, various movies and murals, too many misquotations, two adjectives, at least half a dozen fictions, and most recently "a dead metaphor" with plenty more accolades to come.Ge...

An intellectual who did not like intellectuals, a socialist who did not trust the state, a writer of the left who found it easier to forgive writers of the right, a liberal who was against free markets, a Protestant who believed in religion but not in God, a fierce opponent of nationalism who defined Englishness for a generation. Aside from being one of the greatest political essayists in the English language and author of two of the most famous books in twentieth century literature, Georg...

George Orwell has never been more quoted and misquoted. Can he be rescued from the soundbites? George Orwell remains a work in progress. He is, or has become, a meme, a global writer, a national treasure, a London statue, a scholarly society, a Prize and a Journal, a trope and a show, various movies and murals, too many misquotations, two adjectives, at least half a dozen fictions, and most recently a dead metaphor with plenty more accolades to come. George Orwell: Lif...

Why did killing a fox mean liberty? What did parish revels have to do with the Peterloo Massacre? What did animal cruelty have to do with the English constitution? What did the Factory Acts mean for modern football? In This Sporting Life, Robert Colls explains sport as one of England's great civil cultures. The lived experiences of people from all walks of life are reclaimed to tell England's history through its great sporting cultures, from the horseback pursuits of the wealthy a...

Cities of Ideas: Civil Society and Urban Governance in Britain 1800-2000 addresses the changing nature of individualism and public service in the 19th and 20th centuries, and consists of a collection of essays authored by senior figures in economic, social, cultural and educational history. The question of the balance between the life of the private citizen and the need to play an active role in the wider community, is one that recurs throughout history. In this book the shifting nature of...

'Englishness' is by no means the unchanging quality of those living in the territory that has come to be England, but a concept that has been made and remade throughout history, expressing itself through existing symbols and ideas.Since its first publication in 1987 this collection has been regarded as a major work on English national identity as it evolved during the period 1880-1920 and has had a significant impact on writing and research. It is a classic text for students of mod...

The North East is probably England's most distinctive region. A place of strong character with a very special sense of its past, it is, as William Hutchinson remarked in 1778, 'truly historical ground'.This is a book about both the ancient Anglian kingdom of Northumbrian, which stretched from the Humber to the Scottish border, and the ways in which the idea of being a Northumbrian, or a northerner, or someone from the 'North East', persisted in the area long after ...

'Adds enormously to our understanding of the man' Evening StandardGeorge Orwell was one of the greatest writers England produced in the last century. He left an enduring mark on our language and culture, with concepts such as 'Big Brother' and 'Room 101.' His reputation rests not only on his political shrewdness and his sharp satires (Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four) but also on his marvellously clear style and superb essays...

The story follows the comic adventures of a group of characters associated with the Pickwick Club, a London-based organization dedicated to the study of human nature and the promotion of good fellowship.The novel is structured as a series of loosely connected episodes, each featuring the club members as they travel around England and interact with a colorful cast of supporting characters. The main character, Mr. Samuel Pickwick, is a wealthy retired businessman who leads the club on their ...

THE RUNAWAY GLOBAL BESTSELLER'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read.' SJ Watson, bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEPRachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as...

* A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2023 * * THE FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2023 - LITERARY NON-FICTION *'Simply, a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full. And this in a narrative that grips the reader and unfolds through some of the most consequential moments - historical and cultural - of the twentieth century.' GERALDINE BROOKS‘There’s exhilarat...

From the acclaimed author of Charles Dickens: A Life comes a celebrated biography that casts new light on the remarkable diaries of Samuel Pepys.Samuel Pepys achieved fame as a naval administrator, a friend and colleague of the powerful and learned, a figure of substance. But for nearly ten years he kept a diary which recorded, with unparalleled openness and sensitivity, exactly what it was like to be a young man in Restoration London.Within and be...