The War Commentaries

These 49 talks, written & in part delivered by Orwell from 12/20/41, to 3/13/1943, over the BBC, were designed to counter the lies & misrepresentations being broadcast via Axis radio stations. West has restored most of the passages that were deleted by the Ministry of Information censor & provides clarifying footnotes, some of which identify clear foreshadowings of the novelist's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell not only reported on weekly developments in the main theaters of war but on campaigns such as the invasion of Madagascar & early raids on the coast of Europe. The commentaries are followed by an appendix containing a selection of Axis broadcasts, including a German account of the British victory at El-Alamein & a talk by "Lord Haw-Haw" on the Communist threat to Great Britain. Admirers of Orwell will be interested to see how a writer of his stature perceived the war as it progressed week by week. The texts of his talks & the Axis broadcasts in the appendix provide a rare look at a propaganda war.