Name: Matthew Jackson's review of The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
Item: The Road to Wigan Pier
Rating: 3
Author: Matthew Jackson

George Orwell

The Road to Wigan Pier is a book by the British writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II. The second half is a long essay on his middle-class upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. Orwell states plainly that he himself is in favour of socialism, but feels it necessary to point out reasons why many people who would benefit from socialism and should logically support it, are in practice likely to be strong opponents.

Socialism the Way Orwell Saw

The Road to Wigan Pier

Matthew Jackson

The Road to Wigan Pier is Orwell's 1937 study of poverty and working-class life in northern England.

Gavin

Had a pretty large impact on me, which is strange when you consider he was writing about a society that subsequently had 70 years of relatively pro-poor growth. 

I now only remember him being grim about the monotony of the diet (white bread and dripping times 365) and the fewness of the shillings.

Josh Clement

I liked the savage descriptions "aging people creeping round and round like black beetles". 

I liked the chapter on coal mining and on the working class diet: "the less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food." 

"It is in fact very difficult to escape, culturally, from the class into which you have been born." Is this more or less true today?

Some sections felt circuitous and I had more fun reading 'Down and Out'.

Olivera Mitić

In my opinion, this was just a middle of the road book - a solid 2.5 read. Since it's non fiction and about a topic I really am not interested in, there wasn't a way for me to enjoy it for more than it was. 

It excellently handled the topic of the hard conditions under which miners lived in England, but for the life of me, I could not care less. I literally only read it for book club (and yes, we do realize now that this was quite a bad book club pick).

Ellis Millet

Mihai Nueleanu

John Philpin

Katie 

Yuvraj Jha

Kate Sigrist

Alexander Lobov

Rebecca Bream

Ashley Morin

Sean Michael McGraw

Caroline

Commissioned by the Left Book club in 1936, George Orwell set out to report on working class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The experience profoundly changed him, and in The Road to Wigan Pier he unleased a brilliant and bitter polemic.

Hux Sessa

Julia A.

George Orwell's observations on the appalling living conditions of the unemployed of northern England in 1937, includes evaluations of middle class prejudice and apathy, and a criticism of socialism

Matthew Jackson &
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

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Matthew Jackson &The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

Reviews

Join the club

Matthew Jackson &
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell