Animal Farm

George Orwell

Another in the series of books that everyone else read in High School. A group of farm animals on an English farm (the Manor Farm) initiate a coup, kicking out the human owner and running the farm themselves as a collective. Over time, heirarchies develop and memories are adjusted in this new animal society that has been created. Very clever, very biting comentary on the development and existence of the Stalin (Napolean) regime. Insightful (although not pleasant) perspective on how malleable a population of people can be. This is short enough that I think it would be fun to write the same premise, with the revolution being based on the Solidarity movement in Poland, or anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, or the Arab Spring. What insightful commentary would envisioning each of these revolutions as an action of animals setting up their society for themselves for the first time offer us.

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