Kathleen Hughes Author Archive
Email: khughes@ala.org Website: http://ala.org/
Books Vs. Cigarettes
Although George Orwell is perhaps better known for his scathing attack on totalitarian Stalinist communism in “Animal Farm,” and his dystopian futuristic novel “1984,” he also wrote an engaging short piece in 1947 called “Books vs. Cigarettes.” In this brief essay Orwell discusses a reluctance among many people to purchase books because of their perceived expense. Orwell challenges this general prejudice through an examination of the relative cost of book buying compared to the cost of other items and pursuits.
