1984 & Homage to Catalonia / True Sign Publishing House (ePub)

Both the books 1984 & Homage to Catalonia are written by English essayist, journalist and critic George Orwell. The story is about a man named Winston Smith who comes with his own ideologies when it comes to the freedom given to the people in a society which is decided by the party in power. He vehemently opposes the rigid control and oppression of the Party wherein people have little or no personal freedom. But he brings along with him his own share of fixations and love angles that make it even more gripping. The story is about the scary and impassionate way in which politics works in an autocratic set-up. Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the POUM militia of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. Though commercially unsuccessful when it came out the books went on to be listed in Guardian's 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time. "Homage to Catalonia" is perhaps the seminal work in English about the Spanish Civil War. Written in Orwell's admirably spare yet wonderfully evocative prose, it's a searingly honest book, almost a rite of passage. It talks of the realities of the trenches and of the politics and of the feelings. He soon joins the POUM militia, a Marxist group affiliated with the Anarchists, and is sent to the front.