THE REBELLION OF THE BEASTS
Or, The Ass Is Dead! Long Live the Ass!!!
An important work of English satire attributed to the poet and essayist Leigh Hunt.
Published with an introduction and notes by Tolkien scholar and fantasy specialist Douglas A. Anderson.

The setting is Cambridge, where John Sprat, the narrator, finds himself a misfit at this staid English university. It seems that he can do nothing right until one night he breaks into a college library and pillages the ancient stacks. He discovers De Bestiss, an obscure manuscript by Cornelius Agrippa. "Beast can speak," asserts Agrippa, "and he that doubteth the fact may read this booke." And read it Sprat does, chapter and verse, even going so far as to concoct a recipe from it for a magic potion that allows him to converse with animals.

In this way, he learns from various animals he encounters — who view him as a great wizard — that the beasts of the world are preparing a rebellion. Sprat acts as the reader's eyewitness to the overthrow of mankind. Their grand rebellion complete, the beasts go on to model themselves on their oppressors and create an animal kingdom with the Ass established as Supreme Monarch.

The ultimate twist is that the animals, once in power, are just as corrupt as their human counterparts. The Rebellion of the Beasts is an obvious precursor of George Orwell's Animal Farm, with its Swiftian satire directed against the monarchy instead of against socialism. More biting than Orwell, this book should take its place beside Gulliver's Travels in every misanthrope's library.

"Clever, savage, funny and poignant." — Marilyn Gaull, Editor, The Wordsworth Circle

"Hunt's sagacious, slyly funny, and courageous indictment of those who abuse power is as relevant now as then and bound to elicit much curiosity and discussion." — Booklist

of this remarkable book!