'He was dying, very slowly an in great agony, but in some world remote from me where not even a bullet could damage him further'. George Orwell's moving description of the death of an elephant is representative of the humanitarian instincts he found it impossible to repress. In all these essays - from a journey down a coal mine to an analysis of the 'penny dreafuls' - he fulfils his role as the social conscience of his age. The extraordinary width of his mind can be witnessed in the range of this book, which includes 'Shooting an Elephant', 'Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool', and 'England Your England'.
