Homage to Catalonia

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and instead joined the P.O.U.M. militia to fight against the Fascists. In this now justly famous account of his experience, he describes both the bleak and the comic aspects of trench warfare on the Aragon front, the Barcelona uprising in May 1937, his nearly fatal wounding just two weeks later, and his escape from Barcelona into France after the P.O.U.M. was suppressed. As important as the story of the war itself is Orwell's analysis of why the Communist Party sabotaged the workers' revolution and branded the P.O.U.M. as Trotskyist, which provides an essential key to understanding the outcome of the war and an ironic sidelight on international Communism. It was during this period in Spain that Orwell learned for himself the nature of totalitarianism in practice, an education that laid the groundwork for his great books Animal Farm and 1984.©1980 The Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell (P)1992 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A] triumph.... The audio presentation adds a new dimension to a text which is required reading for any student of the Spanish Civil War." (AudioFile)

Good book, boring performance

Somehow the reader made a story about war exhausting to listen to. I’ve read the actual book, I’d recommend it over this audiobook

Terrific Account of the Spanish Civil War

One of the best written things I have ever read/listened to. Irony, facts, humor and tragedy.

A must read

Not just a discussion of Orwell’s experience fighting on the front lines. This book also delves into the political back and forth between the many factions that made up the Spanish government forces. Apparently, fake news propaganda existed back in Orwells time.

Makes you wonder what he would say about today’s media and party politics. A fascinating book in all respects.

Orwells details are amazing. Such great insight

this book was great. love how his views change as the war goes on. explains so much that I had no idea about behind the front lines. you can see animal farm was inspired by his time is spain.

Privileged to read, experience

Let yourself be transported into Orwell's world and time. What a wonderful story of Spain's Civil War, a story that says more about the conflict than any large macro account of history could tell. Orwell's singular perspective penetrates this history in ways only a first-person account could understand it. And he does so in a way that brings reality to life.

It's a privilege reading Orwell, even when he does something stupid like joining the fight with Trotsky-aligned communists.

Narration? Many Americans find the stuffy British accentuation grating and annoying. I say go with it, you'll get used to it. Most of Orwell's books are narrated by Frederick Davidson. I think it works. Listen to 1984 and then Gulag Archipelago
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, both narrated by Davidson. You'll come to hear Orwell speak...

horrible production, small parts missing

horrible production, small parts missing, that's it but the computer says the review must be more words so I go on.

Devil-may-care adventurer, idealist, author

Orwell was quite the adventurer, the account is the worm's eye view of history during the Spanish civil war just prior to the much larger war. I legitimately felt he was far too casual about his own life and it was frightful to put his wife through that. You can watch in real time as Orwell's Socialist idealism shifts. The reader had a heightened received pronunciation accent which was probably pretty close to Orwell. I really enjoyed it.

Wonderful

Orwell made Imortal by his writing may he live on forever in our hearts. Sleep well Prince Orwell

Novelist Soldier

The narrator had aristocratic accent that gave a proper feeling to this account of a foreign novelist choosing to fight in a misunderstood “civil war” in Spain, As so many were to discover, who volunteered to fight for this “cause”, things were not what they seemed or were advertised to be. This war was not one faction against another but multiple factions, internal and external to Spain-in Spain. That the history is told by Hemingway with his unique poetic descriptions, is ultimately rewarding

Interesting story

There are a few boring parts that the writer says you can skip. Overall interesting listen.