Animal Farm is the greatest, most famous and most popular work by George Orwell. It describes a revolution that takes place when the animals on a farm decide that they can run the farm better and more productively than the humans.
Because of the election of our new president, the books by George Orwell have experienced a revival in interest. This has led to this reprinting in this large print edition with 18 point type to make it easier for people to read.
Those with a knowledge of history quickly discover that this is not just a funny story. It is a parody describing events in the actual history of the Soviet Union starting with the October 1917 revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet state.
Orwell himself was a Communist but he hated what the Soviet state had become.
The events of this book parallel actual events that took place in the early years of the Soviet Union, such as the splitting into two groups. One group eventually becomes dominent led by a pig named Napoleon who is clearly based on Stalin. The other group is led by a pig named Snowball who along with his followers is eventually thrown out and killed. Snowball seems to be based on Trotsky, who was assassinated in 1940. All of the associates of Snowball are killed and eaten, just as almost all of the associates of Trotsky were hunted down and killed except for a few who repented and were rehabilitated.
One saying that has come out of this book is, "All the Animals are Equal, but some are more equal than others."