A book cover with an animal on it.

Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1946

Orwell’s classic tale of how the animals become fed up doing all the work and getting none of the credit or fruits of their labor and rebel, taking over the farm and setting up a ‘socialist’ state of equals.  It doesn’t last.  The bad pigs (Napoleon) take over; the good pigs (Snowball) are eliminated; the geese and chickens just go along, and before you know it, things are back to their unequal, unhappy beginnings.  The chilling description of lost ideals and the failure of socialism and totalitarianism with four hooves.