ROAD TO WIGAN PIER (COLLECTORS LIBRARY)

A powerful account of lives lived in poverty and deprivation in a time of low wages and meagre government support. Orwell describes dismal housing (including the lodging house where he stays), harsh working conditions and the devastating effects of unemployment, as well as the courage and dignity of the people he meets. In the second half of the book, Orwell defends middle-class values whilst critiquing the failures of his own class, and advocates socialism whilst criticizing the socialist movement in England.