The Road to Wigan Pier

It is only when you meet someone of a different culture from yourself that you begin to realize what your own beliefs really are.

The Road to Wigan Pier is George Orwell's 1937 study of poverty and working-class life in northern England. It is the book which established Orwell as among Britain's foremost political and social commentators. It is, moreover, essential for any reader who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of Orwell's life, work and legacy.

This non-fiction work set the tone for Orwell's subsequent career, by focusing on class relations within Britain and political solutions to social problems. The Road to Wigan Pier has remained widely read since his death, running to several editions, and providing a point of comparison for later social and political commentaries

George Orwell

Selina Todd, Professor of Modern History at St Hilda's, Oxford, is the author of Young women, work, and family in England, 1918-1950 (Oxford, 2005) (winner of the Women's History Network annual book prize), The People: the rise and fall of the working class, 1910-2010 (John Murray, 2014) and Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution (Vintage, 2019).

Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
Chronology
The Road to Wigan Pier
Appendix: Photographs
Explanatory Notes