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The Road to Wigan Pier (Penguin Modern Classics) [Paperback]

George Orwell (Author), Richard Hoggart (Introduction)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (26 April 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141185295
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141185293
  • Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #20 in  Books > History > Britain & Ireland
    #1 in  Books > History > Essays, Journals, Letters & True Accounts > 20th Century
    #15 in  Books > History > Cultural History

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George Orwell
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Product Description

Product Description

A searing account of George Orwell’s observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over time. His graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity. It crystallized the ideas that would be found in Orwell’s later works and novels, and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain.

About the Author

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in India in 1903. He was educated at Eton, served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and worked in Britain as a private tutor, schoolteacher, bookshop assistant and journalist. In 1936, Orwell went to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded. In 1938 he was admitted into a sanatorium and from then on was never fully fit. George Orwell died in London in 1950.
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The first sound in the mornings was the clumping of the mill-girls' clogs down the cobbled street. Read the first page
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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Notes on 'The Road to Wigan Pier'., 1 April 2006
By Anita Treso "ast31" (North London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Road to Wigan Pier (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
'The Road to Wigan Pier' is split into two parts. Part one is George Orwell's recording of his experiences in the North of England, meeting miner's families and reporting at first hand what he saw and heard. Orwell records with sincerity the working class condition. There is no blame or embellishment of what Orwell saw. Orwell's descriptions of the people in the boarding houses he was staying in, are wonderful. You really get a sense of the filth and depravation, and yet the people make you feel at home, to the point of marking your bread and butter with "a black thumb-print on it". I appreciate Orwell's candid writing. The stark reality of poverty is brought to life by Orwell, from his description of the conditions of working in the mines, to the weekly shopping bill and food consumption.
Part two is Orwell's polemic on what he saw and experienced. I found this part of the book filled with passion, anger and justifications. Orwell always makes sure to explain the reasoning behind his arguements and even apologises for his background. Part two consists of political theories, language, class distinction and the personal journey Orwell experienced whilst researching part one.
In my opinion, 'The Road to Wigan Pier' is a wonderful snapshot of a time and a place. It still has a place in literature today as a reminder to us all that there are still destitute people in the world and that things haven't changed as much as we hoped.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Has Changed, 5 Jun 2008
By M. Conroy "markconroy" (Wigan UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Road to Wigan Pier (Paperback)
Born and bred in Wigan.I had read 1984 and Animal Farm but had put off reading TRTWP until I was 50.
Orwell writes of the hopelessness of the masses and concludes that they accept their lot because of the "palliatives" of modern technology i.e.cheap clothing (dream of being Greta Garbo or Clark Gable) , alcohol,the movies, radio, the football pools etc.
The government massage and manipulate statistics to show unemployment levels and poverty to be a fraction as bad as they really are.
The middle-class believed that the poor should be instructed to spend their means tested allowance wisely eating tasteless but healthy food,wholemeal bread,oranges,raw carrots etc and to shun alcohol and tobacco etc.
Tell me as anything really changed or have we come full circle under New Labour.
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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Picture Speaks for Itself, 14 Nov 2002
By Eric Anderson (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Road to Wigan Pier (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
This book is divided into two sections. The first is a devastating account of the lives of coal miners in the north of England. While this account may be exaggerated it is completely conceivable that life in this time under such social and political conditions might have been like this. He goes to considerable length to explore the personal reactions and methods of endurance of the people he met. Orwell's dedication to exploring what life was really like for the coal miners was made at considerable personal discomfort and were as heroic as Jonathan Kozol's efforts in our present time.

The second half of the book is a long argument by Orwell of the negative aspects of socialism. He does this in order to provoke a serious discussion over how socialism can be implemented in our society. He understood well, as demonstrated in 1984, that many political parties use propaganda as a means of convincing the public that theirs is the right way. But, by taking the opposing view and criticising his own beliefs, he is able to bring the issues of the party into an open forum to consider implementations of change rather than party rhetoric. He does this most sincerely and in no way tries to hide the faults of the socialist political system of thought. In doing so he proves himself to be quite dignified in his system of beliefs. The juxtaposition of these two sections provides a striking idea of the immediate need for political reformation. He did not need to defend socialism because the need for a political change that could effect the lives of the lower class he investigated was obvious. This showed that Orwell's political ideas didn't exist on some ideological utopian plain, but were firmly rooted in the immense danger a political system could inflict upon a large population. It would be wise to remember this in reading the more popular 1984 and Animal Farm as well.

This book is compelling not just for people interested in politics, but also for anyone interested in history and the human condition. It is something you will be able to learn much from and provide you with inspiration.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Social Document
Having recently completed a Social and Political Studies degree I found my reading habits had changed. Read more
Published 8 hours ago by J. R. Carroll

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading in light of new labour
Lots of people have criticised the second half of this book as tedious. I found it slower and less gripping than Orwell's depiction of Miner's lives and the lives of those living... Read more
Published 20 days ago by Mrs. N. L. Vincendeau

3.0 out of 5 stars The Road to Wigan Pier
The first half of the book was interesting, working conditions of the miners and the conditions when they returned home (they had four hours) with no washing facilities. Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. A. Bonar

3.0 out of 5 stars a working mans view of the 1930`s
Anyone who is studying social history and needs an insight to the living and working conditions of the 1930`s should put this book on their "must read" list. Read more
Published 5 months ago by bravo 1

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master at his beat
Orwell is defined by his passion for social change, his hatred of injustice and for the skill with which he highlights his frustrations with the world around him. Read more
Published 6 months ago by tblondon

1.0 out of 5 stars Completely misleading
See my review for "1984" - I'm surprised this writer ever got a publishing deal.
Published 10 months ago by So-Crates

3.0 out of 5 stars Road to Wigan Pier
The Road to Wigan Pier: Vol.5 (Complete Works George Orwell)
An interesting account of the conditions of working class life only a generation ago and a reminder of the... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dabbler

4.0 out of 5 stars Here we go again?
I think it pays to have a hard look at the cover of this book - the boy to the right of the picture is possibly still alive, and having lived through the depression of the 1930's,... Read more
Published 15 months ago by SCM

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected.
Having been bitten twice (see The Man who was Thursday), I have made a new rule not to buy or read a book without having a good look at the Amazon reviews first. Read more
Published 18 months ago by T. Hayton

5.0 out of 5 stars Thougts on "The Road to Wigan Pier"
As mentioned by other reviewers, the book is divided into two parts. Part one provides a journalistic style of social observation, when Orwell spends time visiting and most... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Jean Michel

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