Homage to Catalonia

George Orwell

Frederick Davidson (Narrator)

01-01-92

8hrs 26min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Nonfiction/History

As low as $0.00
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01-01-92

8hrs 26min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Nonfiction/History

Description

”Homage to Catalonia is a triumph…Frederick Davidson makes a fine reader. He sounds convincingly as Orwell might have sounded, even to the occasional use of French-accented Spanish pronunciation…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
One of the National Review’s 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Century
New York Times Pick of Books on Catalonia's Fight for Independence

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and instead joined the POUM militia to fight against the Fascists.

In this now justly famous account of his experience, he describes both the bleak and the comic aspects of trench warfare on the Aragon front, the Barcelona uprising in May 1937, his nearly fatal wounding just two weeks later, and his escape from Barcelona into France after the Party of Maxist Unification (POUM) was suppressed.

As important as the story of the war itself is Orwell’s analysis of why the Communist Party sabotaged the workers’ revolution and branded the POUM as Trotskyist, which provides an essential key to understanding the outcome of the war and an ironic sidelight on international Communism.

It was during this period in Spain that Orwell learned for himself the nature of totalitarianism in practice, an education that laid the groundwork for his great books Animal Farm and 1984.

Praise

”Homage to Catalonia is a triumph…Frederick Davidson makes a fine reader. He sounds convincingly as Orwell might have sounded, even to the occasional use of French-accented Spanish pronunciation…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“One of Orwell’s very best books and perhaps the best book that exists on the Spanish Civil War.” New Yorker

“For a firsthand account of the Spanish Civil War, turn to George Orwell’s memoir about his six months serving on the militia…That he could have written so objective a book so soon after his almost fatal involvement in the war itself and in the partisan conflict seems miraculous.” New York Times

“Clear-eyed and unflinching…At once history and a moral and imaginative experience.” New York Herald Tribune Book Review

Homage to Catalonia reminds us that Orwell was a superb journalist and reporter. Nobody has described the experience of this kind of warfare of 1914-1918, better than it is done here.” Julian Symons, poet, historian, and crime novelist

Details
More Information
Language English
Release Day Dec 31, 1991
Release Date January 1, 1992
Release Date Machine 694224000
Imprint Blackstone Publishing
Provider Blackstone Publishing
Categories History, Europe, Nonfiction - Adult, Nonfiction - All
Author Bio
George Orwell

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blaire, was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and literary critic. He is best known for his works of social criticism and opposition to totalitarianism. He also wrote nonfiction about his experiences in the working class and as a solder. His work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective “Orwellian,"describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices, has become part of the English language. In 2008, the London Times named him the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Narrator Bio
Frederick Davidson

Frederick Davidson (1932–2005), also known as David Case, was one of the most prolific readers in the audiobook industry, recording more than eight hundred audiobooks in his lifetime, including over two hundred for Blackstone Audio. Born in London, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed for many years in radio plays for the British Broadcasting Company before coming to America in 1976. He received AudioFile’s Golden Voice Award and numerous Earphones Awards and was nominated for a Grammy for his readings.

Overview

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
One of the National Review’s 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Century
New York Times Pick of Books on Catalonia's Fight for Independence

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and instead joined the POUM militia to fight against the Fascists.

In this now justly famous account of his experience, he describes both the bleak and the comic aspects of trench warfare on the Aragon front, the Barcelona uprising in May 1937, his nearly fatal wounding just two weeks later, and his escape from Barcelona into France after the Party of Maxist Unification (POUM) was suppressed.

As important as the story of the war itself is Orwell’s analysis of why the Communist Party sabotaged the workers’ revolution and branded the POUM as Trotskyist, which provides an essential key to understanding the outcome of the war and an ironic sidelight on international Communism.

It was during this period in Spain that Orwell learned for himself the nature of totalitarianism in practice, an education that laid the groundwork for his great books Animal Farm and 1984.

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