He criticized the British government's lack of principles regarding Indian self-government and never failed to argue for India's independence.

Orwell can be read as a teaching in Britain's transition from an imperial society to a multicultural and multi-ethnic one.

Since this was a great development in his time, and continues to be, this is one reason Hitchens argues that Orwell matters.

He considered himself to be on the left and advocated for democracy, decolonization, egalitarian ideals and heavily criticized totalitarianism.

[1] Orwell had lived under a Stalinist police regime in Spain when he fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

'[2] Orwell spent his entire adult life renouncing his upbringing in the conservative English Tory Party.

The novel takes place in Britain to emphasize that English-speaking races are not innately better and that totalitarianism can triumph everywhere, if not fought against.'

Orwell was invited by the Duchess of Atholl in November 1945 to speak on behalf of the right-wing and anti-communist group, League for European Freedom.

In Orwell's words, 'I belong to the Left and must work inside it, as much as I hate totalitarianism and its poisonous influence.'

Orwell did take American literature seriously, he recognized its success with the incomplete struggle for liberty, and discussed it on the BBC.

[1] Hitchens thinks that if Orwell had lived another ten years he would have visited the United States after being persuaded by his friends in New York.

Hitchens notes that Orwell wrote for a predominantly male audience and that his female characters were "practically devoid of the least trace of intellectual or reflective capacity.

Orwell was married twice and his first wife, Eileen O'Shaugnessy, helped sharpen the plot for Animal Farm.

"[5] In 1949, shortly before he died, the English author George Orwell prepared a list of notable writers and other persons he considered to be unsuitable as possible writers for the anti-communist propaganda activities of the Information Research Department, a propaganda organisation of the British state under the Foreign Office.

Orwell was brought up in a conservative upper class environment where people felt fear and loathing towards the poor.

Orwell volunteered to be a part of that by becoming an imperial police officer in Burma, living under a dictatorship.

Hitchens speculates that Orwell resigned from his job as a police officer in the Burma because he feared he would become part of the dirty secret himself; that he would become a racist and a sadist.

[6] Orwell wanted to find out what living in impoverished environments were really like and to familiarize himself with the harsh facts of reality.

[6] Publishers Weekly wrote, "Hitchens brilliantly marshals his deep knowledge of Orwell's work.

"[9] George Packer of The Independent gave the book a mixed review, however, remarking, "Why Orwell Matters is presented by its publisher as a case of posthumous affinity between writers across generations, but critic and subject turn out to be mismatched, and it's the critic who suffers as a result."

"[10] Alex Lee from the Yale Review of Books concludes that in the end Hitchens has "proved his basic point: The modern world needs more of the clear thinking, good writing and simple ideals that Orwell stood for."

"[7] John Rossi, professor of history at La Salle University in Philadelphia, wrote that: "Christopher Hitchens has written one of the best books on Orwell to appear in recent years.

What makes it such a powerful book is that it can be read either as an introduction to Orwell and his works or as a summary insight into them.