Christopher Hitchens assesses the life, the achievements, and the myth of the great political writer and participant George Orwell. True to his contrarian style, Hitchens is both admiring and aggressive, sympathetic yet critical, taking true measure of his subject as hero and problem. Answering both the detractors and the false claimants, Hitchens tears down the façade of sainthood erected by the hagiographers and rebuts the critics point by point. He examines Orwell and his perspectives on fascism, empire, feminism, and Englishness, as well as his outlook on America, a country and culture toward which he exhibited much ambivalence. Whether thinking about empires or dictators, race or class, nationalism or popular culture, Orwell's moral outlook remains indispensable in a world that has undergone vast changes in the seven decades since his death.

Introduction: The figure -- Orwell and empire -- Orwell and the left -- Orwell and the right -- Orwell and America -- Orwell and 'Englishness': The antinomies of St. George -- Orwell and the feminists: difficulties with girls -- 'The List' -- Generosity and anger: the novels -- Deconstructing the post-modernists: Orwell and transparency -- In conclusion.