Animal Farm

“Animal Farm sticks in everybody’s mind. ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’. Again, this is something read twice. I read it for the first time when I was 14 or 15 and it was a funny story about badly behaved animals, but then I read it again at college and someone pointed out to me that this was sharp social satire. I thought it was an animal story, a kids’ book, but when I took another look at it I realised what he was getting at. The Soviet leadership was pretty well represented there.” Read more...

The Best Political Satire Books

P. J. O’Rourke, Political Commentator

“I picked Animal Farm because it is an allegory about power and its seductive and corruptive influence on people regardless of their initial good intentions.” Read more...

The best books on Holding Power to Account

Heather Brooke, Journalist