Who Is Big Brother?

A spirited and essential companion to Orwell and his works, covering all the novels and major essays

An intellectual who hated intellectuals, a socialist who didn’t trust the state—our foremost political essayist and author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four was a man of stark, puzzling contradictions. Knowing Orwell’s life and reading Orwell’s works produces just as many questions as it answers.

Celebrated Orwell biographer D. J. Taylor guides fans and new readers alike through the many twists and turns of Orwell’s books, life and thought. As a writer he intended his works to be transparent and instantly accessible, yet they are also full of secrets and surprises, tantalising private histories, and psychological quirks. From his conflicted relationship with religion to his competing anti-imperialism and fascination with empire, this book delves into the complex development of this essential yet enigmatic voice.

Taylor leads us through Orwell’s principal writings and complex life—crafting an illuminating guide to one of the most enduringly relevant writers in the English language.

D. J. Taylor is an award-winning novelist, critic, and biographer. His book Orwell: The Life won the 2003 Whitbread Prize for Biography, and Orwell: The New Life was published in 2023. His books include two Booker-longlisted novels and a life of Thackeray.