"I feel very British about trying to compare myself to people that I consider great," he says. Solzhenitson is one of the most formative influences on my thinking, and I quote him in the opening of the book. Orwell's preface to Animal Farm shows how difficult it was for him to have his work published during World War II. "Americans don't like being told how terrible you are... So I can tell you how to write your wrongs."

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