George Orwell was first and foremost an essayist. From his earliest published article in 1928 to his untimely death in 1950, he produced an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that reflectedas it was for Yeats to versify or Dickens to invent."Facing Unpleasant Facts charts Orwell's development as a master of the narrative-essay form and unites classics such as "Shooting an Elephant" with lesser-known journalism and passages from his wartime diary. Whether detailing the horrors of Orwell's boyhood in an English boarding school or bringing to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the Spanish Civil War, these narrative essays weave together the personal and the political in an unmistakable style that is at once plainspoken and brilliantly complex.

Contents:
The Spike
Clink
A Hanging
Shooting an Elephant
Bookshop Memories
Marrakech
My Country Right or Left
War-time Diary
England Your England
Dear Doktor Goebbels - Your British Friends Are Feeding Fine!
Looking Back on the Spanish War
As I Please, 1
As I Please, 2
As I Please, 3
As I Please, 16
Revenge Is Sour
The Case for the Open Fire
The Sporting Spirit
In Defence of English Cooking
A Nice Cup of Tea
The Moon Under Water
In Front of Your Nose
Some Thoughts on the Common Toad
A Good Word for the Vicar of Bray
Why I Write
How the Poor Die
Such, Such Were the Joys