As a writer, Orwell produced literary criticism and poetry, fiction and polemical journalism; and is best known for the allegorical novella "Animal Farm" (1945) and the dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949). His non-fiction works, including "The Road to Wigan Pier" (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the north of England, and "Homage to Catalonia" (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics and literature, language and culture. In 2008, "The Times" ranked George Orwell second among "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". His works were widely disseminated by Information Research Department, whom he sent Orwell's list.