The Road to Wigan Pier

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

When Orwell went to England in the 1930s to find out how industrial workers lived, he not only observed but shared in their experiences. He stayed in cramped, dreary lodgings and subsisted on the scant, cheerless diet of the poor. He went down into the coal mines and walked crouching, as the miners did, through a one- to three-mile passage too low to stand up in. He watched the back-breaking, dangerous labor of men whose net pay then averaged $575 a year. And he knew the unemployed, those who had been out of work for so long they had sunk beyond despair into an inhuman apathy.

In this searing yet beautiful account of life on the bottom rung, Orwell asks himself why Socialism - which alone, he felt, could rescue human values from the ravages of industrialism - had so little appeal. His answer is a harsh critique of the Socialism and Socialists of his time.

Public Domain (P)1993 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Very interesting book by a socialist in the 1930s!

This book is an interesting and detailed insight into the life of the working class in England in the 1930s, as well as into the thinking life of the intellectual socialists of that time. Mind you, most of the predictions Orwell made about the bleakness of the future of industrialization, and the inevitablility of socialism's adoption were way off-target, but then he didn't have the historical record of socialism's abject economic failures to draw upon as we do today, since it was almost all in the future at that time.

Nevertheless the way he analyzes from every angle, the thinking of socialists and non-socialists alike, is fascinating. What an intelligent man he was (I know, I know, if he was so intelligent, why did he get the future and the workability of socialism as an economic model so wrong? But I already addressed that in the last paragraph). Also, the details he describes in the everyday are a testimony to his incredible way with words.

The narrator's snobbish-sounding upper-class British dialect adds a lot to the reading, capturing the spirit of condescencion that Orwell clearly had for all sorts of groups he describes, whether socialists or non-socialists.

A first-class listen. I almost couldn't put it down.

Hard to believe that was so recent

Orwell starts by recounting the living conditions of, what Victor Davis Hanson has termed, the muscular class. Post-war England’s working poor (or not working) dealt with conditions that are hard to comprehend. Made me chuckle when I think of the American college student rebelling against the ‘slave wages’ of $12/hour. After listening to this you’ll look at your bathtub or shower and H&C faucets with a sort of lust and relief.

The end of the book is a recipe for winning the cultural/political battle against the rise of Fascism. Still apropos to this day.

Worth your time to be sure.

Oh, and pay attentions to the last few paragraphs of the first 6 chapters. He polished them to a mirror-like finish with a razor’s edge.

Still relevant

Enjoyed very much. Many of Orwell’s observations remain relevant today. Perhaps not the one about the working class smelling bad!

modestly interesting

repossessed by Jordan Peterson, the last few chapters about fascism, socialism, capitalism, etc, were the best. Neat insight into the common man's world at the time. typically I don't like this Blackstone narrator, but he didn't overly dramatized his accent in this treating, somehow.

An Interesting Social Commentary

I'm a fan of dystopian novels so I decided to give Orwell's nonfiction work a shot. I was pleasantly surprised with his commentary on the state of the English working class and socialism in the 1930s. The description of the work day and home life of the working class was quite interesting and eye opening, as was Orwell's commentary on the ills of society.

Some of the book was geared toward English society and more applicable to a nation with a long history and more definitive class structure. Other statements still applied to current U.S. society, including some of his foreboding predictions (like eating unhealthy foods becoming the new fatal disease). I was fascinated with his foresight yet appalled at the same time that someone noticed this 70 years ago yet nothing was to head off or solve the problems.

The narrator had a great accent and made the book come alive. Thoroughly enjoyed the book and the narrator. I will look for more books read by this narrator.

socialism leads to fascism

it took a minute to get used to the narrator and there's a slight background nose. But very insightful look as to why you cannot fight for justice and liberty based solely on income, race, and class.

Enlightening

Worth listening to even if you aren’t a socialist (I’m not). Feels especially relevant in 2020.

Capitalism eventually makes everyone rich

Orwell read his Malthus, shook in his boots and let that experience color everything he wrote in this book. Now we know Malthus is so completely wrong.
Orwell also has limited knowledge while writing of the socialist purges in Russia in the 20’s and the Holodomor in the Ukraine. If he does know about these and still wrote this book promoting socialism, his soul has been condemned.

A rather unsettle reality check...

Orwell shows off his personal prejudices more than a few times in this book but I think that only adds to the reality check that it provides for those of us who like to believe that we aren't really part of a class system. It's certainly worth a read and some good self-reflection. Like all of Orwells work it's thought-provoking and poignant and he didn't have to delve into the world of make-believe to show us just how unfair and wrong we can be. Animal farm is still my Favorite Orwell but I would recommend this book to anyone. :)

A highly recommended reading...

having read 1984 and Animal Farm some 30 years ago, I have been treated for the deeply revealing and honest introspect of the author, particularly on the second part of the book. The last two chapters have to carefully analyze.