To those who think they know what George Orwell is all about, this
book unpacks surprise after surprise. Orwell Your Orwell reveals an
Orwell very different from the one most people think of. It gives
an unexpected yet convincing picture of Orwell's beliefs, every key
point precisely documented. Orwell adopted a habitual rhetoric in
which he portrayed himself as a lone, embattled dissident. But
objectively examined, his opinions broadly corresponded with those
of conventional leftwing thinking. Far from being skeptical of
prevailing orthodoxies, Orwell emerges as a True Believer in the
orthodoxies of the 1930s Left, though a believer who sharply drew
attention to some of the serious problems with these ideologies. In
his short life, Orwell underwent several dramatic conversions -
such as his overnight switch in August 1939 from being fiercely
anti-war to enthusiastically pro-war - while cleaving to some fixed
positions - such as his opposition to the British Empire,
totalitarianism, and birth control. Dr. Steele identifies both the
conversions and the continuities, as well as some aspects of his
thought which gradually evolved. As well as recovering Orwell's
actual beliefs from the many accumulated misrepresentations, Dr.
Steele also criticizes some of these beliefs, exposing the
fallacies in Orwell's thinking on such issues as the economics of
imperialism, the dangers of hedonism, the significance of the
Spanish Civil War, and the efficacy of mind control. Reviews: "This
is an absolutely dazzling book on Orwell, casting a brilliant new
light, not just on Orwell himself, but on the entire intellectual
history of our time. It is a 'must read', not just for devotees of
Orwell, but for anyone concerned with discussions of socialism and
capitalism, totalitarianism and democracy, ideological passion and
intellectual honesty. It will prove a superb teaching aid at both
undergraduate and graduate levels."-Yuri Maltsev, co-author of The
Tea Party Explained and editor of Requiem for Marx "There has
always been some mystery about how Orwell could give us the
nightmare world of Ingsoc (English Socialism) while himself
remaining an unrepentant English Socialist. This and other puzzles
about Orwell are convincingly solved in Dr. Steele's masterly
account. If you want to know what made Orwell tick, you just have
to read this eloquent, provocative, and hugely entertaining
book."-Barry Smith, Director of the National Center for Ontological
Research and author of Austrian Philosophy
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