A must read...but it's not free...
Rarely will I promote a book on First Edition Friday that is
not available freely online in its first edition format, either electronic or
facsimile. You will have to buy a copy
of this one...but frankly, it's worth it.
1984 is probably one of the most important books you will ever read (or
re-read with more mature eyes). The book
is an instruction guide to the human soul and spirit. It is the set of directions for the complete
tyrant, you know, the tyrant that has everything...except complete and absolute
power over humanity.
Without trying to be cliché, the book appears to be
prescient. One can make correlations
with what is currently occurring here and in other parts of the World. Power, past and present, always continues to
grab and grab for more. That is its
nature. Orwell's book only highlights
and points this out. It shows a vision
of what might be, should Mankind continue down certain paths of
self-destruction.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a direct product of the First and
Second World Wars, as well as the worldwide economic depression of the
1930's. It is a work that predicts a
dark future that was influenced by Blair's dark present. It draws from previous novels that predict
horrific and tyrannical futures...but it stands on its own by painting a
complete destruction of humanity’s will and soul...complete control by
"Big Brother" and the political class...complete control of Man.
Like freedom itself, this book is not free as a online facsimile. You will have to buy a copy. You can pick up a first edition pretty
reasonably, but in this case I would like to recommend something different...
The 1983 Signet paperback with the foreword by Walter
Cronkite is an edition that is most apropos to our current reality. With both Cronkite's very accurate analysis
of where the United States was headed with the spy/police state, followed by
Erich Fromm's analysis of the story's origin, it makes the 40th Anniversary publication
more relevant than an edition from 1949.
I began by stating that this was a must read, and important
volume to digest and utilize. I must
stress that point once again...this is perhaps the most important bit of
fiction you could chance to read. It
show what could happen...what man is capable of, what very well might occur if
we are not vigilant.
You can find a true first edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four
through the website First Edition
Points
You can find a digital copy here: Nineteen Eighty-Four