Nineteen Eighty-Four

It is difficult to think of a book which has had a greater impact on 20th-century culture and language than Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" - it introduced phrases such as Big Brother, Newspeak, and Thought Police, - which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1999. This edition is illustrated.

"My favourite book is 1984 . . . More relevant to today than almost any other book that you can think of" (Jo Brand)

"His final masterpiece . . . enthralling and indispensable for understanding modern history" (New York Review of Books)

"The book of the twentieth century . . . haunts us with an ever-darker relevance" (Independent)

"Orwell remains the most indispensable English writer of his period" (Observer)

"One of the most influential English writers of the twentieth century" (Robert McCrum Observer)

"Many writers and journalists have tried to imitate his particular kind of clarity without possessing anything like his moral authority" (Peter Ackroyd The Times)

"Matchlessly sharp and fresh . . . The clearest and most compelling English prose style this century" (John Carey Sunday Times)

"Orwell's innocent eye was often devastatingly perceptive . . . a man who looked at his world with wonder and wrote down exactly what he saw, in admirable prose" (Evening Standard)

"The great moral force of his age . . . It is impossible not to be elated by his literary and political writing . . . the most lovable of writers, someone whose books can make the reader long for his company" (Spectator)