Why read Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays?

Book cover of Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays

Book description

It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil,
was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We were waiting outside the
condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages.
Each cell measured about ten…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Rory MacLean

Author

No surprise that George Orwell, author of the two defining parables of the 20th century, should be at the top of my list, especially as his five years in Burma attuned him to the suffering of the oppressed. More moving than ‘Burmese Days’ is his short story ‘A Hanging’ in which he watches a condemned criminal walk towards the gallows … and sidestep a puddle. In that fleeting moment Orwell marks the preciousness of human life and the heartlessness of power.

From Rory's list on Myanmar from someone who has traveled throughout it.