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Christopher Hitchens
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Why Orwell Matters Hardcover – September 18, 2002

by Christopher Hitchens (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 822 ratings
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Hitchens on Orwell:This is not a biography, but I sometimes feel as if George Orwell requires extricating from a pile of saccharine tablets and moist hankies; an object of sickly veneration and sentimental overpraise, employed to stultify schoolchildren with his insufferable rightness and purity. This kind of tribute is often of the Rochefoucauldian type; suggestive of the payoff made by vice to virtue, and also of the tricks played by an uneasy conscience.What [Orwell] illustrates, by his commitment to language as the partner of truth, is that "views" do not really count; that it matters not what you think, but how you think, and that politics are relatively unimportant, while principles have a way of enduring, as do the few irreducible individuals who maintain allegiance to them.Others on Hitchens:"I have been asked whether I wish to nominate a successor, an inheritor, a dauphin or delphino. I have decided to name Christopher Hitchens."-Gore Vidal"Christopher Hitchens's writing has sweep and flair. He is accurate where others are merely dutiful, unpredictable where the tendency is to go for the cliché. In short, brilliant."-Edward W. Said"May his targets cower." -Susan Sontag
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  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    September 18, 2002
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0465030491
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0465030491
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vanity Fair and Nation contributor Hitchens passionately defends a great writer from attacks by both right and left, though he also refutes those fans who proclaim his sainthood. George Orwell (1903-1950), a socialist who abhorred all forms of totalitarianism, was, as Hitchens points out, prescient about the "three great subjects of the twentieth century:" imperialism, fascism, and Stalinism. In all things, Orwell's feelings were every bit as visceral as intellectual, and Hitchens devotes some of his best writing to describing Orwell's first-hand experiences with empire in Burma. It was there that he learned to hate racism, bullying and exploitation of the lower classes. "Orwell can be read," notes Hitchens, "as one of the founders of... post-colonialism." Orwell's insights about fascism and Stalinism crystallized in Spain, while he was fighting in the Civil War. Hitchens offers an excellent analysis of the writer's women, both real (his wives) and fictional, to show that the feminist critique of Orwell (that he didn't like strong, brainy women) may be unfair, though Hitchens also points out what feminists have ignored: Orwell's "revulsion for birth control and abortion." Hitchens brilliantly marshals his deep knowledge of Orwell's work. Fans of Orwell will enjoy Hitchens's learned and convincing defense, while those unfamiliar with Orwell may perhaps be induced to return to the source. (Oct.) Forecast: Hitchens has made a splash with recent books (Letters to a Young Contrarian and The Trial of Henry Kissinger). Basic is banking on similar success with a 30,000 first printing.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Far from being an ordinary biography, this small volume is an in-depth investigation of the essential George Orwell-"the heart on fire and the brain on ice." Hitchens recognizes that Orwell was more than the author of 1984 and Animal Farm. He was a keen critic of Nazism and Stalinism and didn't soften his pictures of them to sell books. His analysis of the grave inequities of those two forms of government is sufficiently acute to apply to the early 21st century's political spectrum. While claiming that Orwell "requires extricating from a pile of saccharine tablets and moist hankies [as] an object of sickly veneration and sentimental over-praise," Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair and the Nation, asserts that in contrast to his many contemporaries who wrote about the era's political issues (e.g., Louis MacNeice, Stephen Spender, and Cecil Day Lewis), "it [is] possible to reprint every single letter, book review and essay composed by Orwell without exposing him to any embarrassment"-a remarkable feat, indeed. The only problem with this study is that it assumes that the reader already knows that Orwell conscientiously overcame his early anti-intellectualism, his dislike of the "dark" people of the English Empire, and his squeamishness about homosexuality-all to become a great humanist. Thus, it is written for readers who have already done their homework. Recommended for large libraries with extensive political science holdings.
Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; First Edition (September 18, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465030491
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465030491
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 822 ratings

About the author

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Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

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Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was the author of Letters to a Young Contrarian, and the bestseller No One Left to Lie To: The Values of the Worst Family. A regular contributor to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Monthly and Slate, Hitchens also wrote for The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and The Independent, and appeared on The Daily Show, Charlie Rose, The Chris Matthew's Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, and C-Span's Washington Journal. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
822 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the writing amazing, readable, and worth reading. They describe the book as a masterpiece of insight and clarity. Readers also find the book engaging, entertaining, and motivating. They praise the author as excellent and witty.

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12 customers mention "Readable writing"9 positive3 negative

Customers find the writing amazing, interesting, and worth reading.

"...Christopher Hitchens: is an amazing writing. Lest I be guilty of too much subjectivity, I'll provide some specifics so you can decide for yourself...." Read more

"...After that, the writing gets better; there are more references to Orwell's writings; and it just gets more readable...." Read more

"...He is popular because he is a good writer and he is uncompromising...." Read more

"...of which it has no pretensions, "Why Orwell Matters" provides a highly readable background to Orwell's life and works...." Read more

10 customers mention "Insight"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a masterpiece of insight and clarity. They say it's an interesting work, highly intelligent, and well-written. Readers also mention the book is meticulously researched and well thought out.

"...This book succeeds amazingly in making Orwell seem relevant Not just relevant, Orwell is totally fascinating and intriguing. Who is "us"?..." Read more

"...are not only beautifully thought out ("god is not Great") but well thought out...." Read more

"If Hitchens wrote it, then you can be assured that it is meticulously researched...." Read more

"...A highly intellgent, cogent, well-written examination of the milti-faceted, oft- mis-understood, Orwell." Read more

10 customers mention "Readability"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging, entertaining, and motivating. They say it's worth the time invested to read further about the well-known Orwell.

"...in making Orwell seem relevant Not just relevant, Orwell is totally fascinating and intriguing. Who is "us"?..." Read more

"...Very entertaining, much more so than Orwell's novels which I find a bit depressing...." Read more

"...This book is a motivating adventure through the life of the great egalitarian...." Read more

"...serve to illuminate the thinking behind Burmese Days and 1984 - well worth it." Read more

5 customers mention "Author"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the author excellent, witty, and intriguing.

"...Great book about another excellent author." Read more

"...Hitchens was an intellectual giant with few rivals. All of his works are worth reading...." Read more

"Orwell is one of the most interesting and important writers of the twentieth century. He fought against poverty, imperialism, communism, and fascism...." Read more

"Great book" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

DMR008
5.0 out of 5 stars witty, historical, intriguing
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2012
Verified Purchase
I bought the ebook/Kindle edition and love it. Bravo to Amazon for carrying what the iBook store doesn't!!

There are two people who figure prominently in this book. George Orwell (the subject) and Christopher Hitchens (the author)

But first: Why read this book? This book attempts to answer the question, why should George Orwell -- his life and writings -- matter to us anymore? This book succeeds amazingly in making Orwell seem relevant Not just relevant, Orwell is totally fascinating and intriguing. Who is "us"? Probably, primarily, the English speaking parts of the world, But it is by no means limited to this. It is made imminently clear to us that Orwell matters to the U.S.S.R, to modern Russia, to Eastern and Western Europe, to Inida and the sub-continent, to Africa, to Spain, to intellectuals, to non-intellectuals, to anti-intellectuals.

George Orwell: most of us know him merely as the author of 1984 and Animal Farm (this would include me). He is ever so much more. And he is considered in such high regard in so many other cultures (aside from the U.K. and the U.S.A) for so many compelling reasons. Reading this makes me want to reread the books mentioned above... and i will.

Christopher Hitchens: is an amazing writing. Lest I be guilty of too much subjectivity, I'll provide some specifics so you can decide for yourself. The author is not necessarily easy to read. His vocabulary is inexhaustible, and he brings it all to bear on his subject. He contends -- like a bullfighter -- with the other authors who have written about George Orwell. He also reveals Orwell in his historical and cultural context so that we can better understand him. Consequently, this is a tour de force of England and Europe during the first half of the 20th century. Explored are topics that include the two world wars, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, socialism, marxism, absolutism, tyranny, bigotry, slavery, ideology, feminism, and religion.

I highly recommend this book and the digital format that I bought.

I hope this helped.
17 people found this helpful
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Donald A. Collins
5.0 out of 5 stars Hitchens Cites Orwell To Warn On Freedom's Fragility
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2012
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In my youth, having read, digested and fervently believed in the wisdom expressed in classics such as Animal Farm and Huxley's Brave New World about the fragility of freedom, it was a particular pleasure to find, as I so often have, similar opinions as those so eloquently expressed by the late Christopher Hitchens in his short non fiction 2002 book, Why Orwell Matters.

Robert Conquest's 1969 poem written to Orwell in the heart of the Cold War introduces Hitchens to his realistic assessment of Orwell, the mere mortal, not the saint, but he quickly teaches us Orwell's seminal theme, his "decision to repudiate the unthinking imperialism that had been his family's meal ticket..."

As the basic human rights far too many Americans take for granted today are being systematically chipped away by our empire building industrial military complex, one needs to understand that this is a fatal mania, one which brought down Rome and other empires.

As for Orwell's screeds against Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, Hitchens calls that part of his work "not among his best", but notes that "His one special insight was to notice the frequent collusion of the Roman Catholic Church and of Catholic intellectuals with this saturnalia of wickedness and stupidity". Suggest one read, "Hitler's Pope" as ample example. How about present day influences by the RCC and the evangelicals on personal freedom and basic human rights.

Hitchens lauds Orwell as "vividly contemporary" citing his concerns with language such as "political correctness" his worry about the environment and his "acute awareness of the dangers of `nuclearism' and the nuclear state".

Orwell died in 1950 before the US had fully established its empire building role, and before our basic freedoms were seriously eroded by our growing militarism.

A George Washington University Public Interest Law Professor named Jonathan Turley in his January 13, 2012 Washington Post OP Ed recently listed "10 reasons the US is no longer the land of the free", which perfectly mirrors the Orwellian erosion of rights depicted in Animal Farm.
[...]
Turley's list offers this synthesizing comment: "In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state. The most recent example of this was the National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. At what point does the reduction of individual rights in our country change how we define ourselves?
While each new national security power Washington has embraced was controversial when enacted, they are often discussed in isolation. But they don't operate in isolation. They form a mosaic of powers under which our country could be considered, at least in part, authoritarian. Americans often proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba and China as categorically unfree. Yet, objectively, we may be only half right. Those countries do lack basic individual rights such as due process, placing them outside any reasonable definition of "free," but the United States now has much more in common with such regimes than anyone may like to admit." Do Americans realize we have now lost the right of Habeas Corpus?

Be sure to read this Hitchens classic as it will disturb you, but likewise prepare you better to vigorously oppose the drift of our nation further into the tyranny of its growing authoritarianisms.
15 people found this helpful
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BJ
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting semi-biography of Orwell
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2019
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Hitchens was obviously writing to the academic crowd and not to a wider audience--I have a graduate degree but had to sit with a dictionary at hand because he uses so many archaic and/or little-used words. Though I do not believe he ever got to the point of why Orwell matters (only indirectly) it was an interesting take on Orwell's life. One downside is that Hitchens was obsessed with Orwell's so-called "unexamined and philistine prejudice against homosexuality" including some similar remark in nearly every chapter. Why? Just because Orwell was English does automatically infer he should have either been a homosexual or accepting of the practice of it. How does Hitchens know it was an unexamined prejudice? And why is a mid-twentieth century position absolutely normal for the entirety of history (up until a few years ago) considered "philistine"? Interesting take, but I am not impressed with Hitchens--especially after all the build-up about him I read from various sources.
14 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Sharris
5.0 out of 5 stars Rational and balanced read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2024
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As clear, reflective and informed as all of Hitchen's writings. This book applied the fairness Orwell applys to his own writings in general and uses clearly backed up arguments. Enlightening and balanced critique, I have only recently discovered Christopher Hitchens and have no higher praise than to recommend an erudite writer whose content is equal to his style. A brilliant read.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on July 17, 2017
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The best analysis of one of the most important authors in the English cannon.
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Credit Man
5.0 out of 5 stars Explains the influences on Orwell and his views - essential reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2024
Verified Purchase
The book ranges through Orwell’ life, setting out what he did (eg fought for Republicans in Spanish Civil War, and explaining his views.

Today we have very few original thinkers, and even fewer arguing for social conservatism.

Read it to improve your views on ‘life’.
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Lucas S
5.0 out of 5 stars HITCH. UNREAL BOOK
Reviewed in Canada on March 31, 2016
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Hitch wrote this. Enough said. Pick it up.
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TERRANCE BRADLEY
4.0 out of 5 stars book disappointed, but Amazon's supplier service was excellent
Reviewed in Canada on October 12, 2022
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continue my education of Orwellian philosophy
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