Review by Booklist Review
Few writers are as synonymous with their own work as Geroge Orwell. The themes of his novels, particularly 1984 and Animal Farm, have become so firmly embedded in the public consciousness that they are well known even to those unfamiliar with the books. Beers' timely and incisive examination serves both as a biographical sketch as well as a critical re-evaluation of how Orwell is currently situated in our political and cultural moment. Most associate Orwell with concepts prominently addressed in his dystopian works. Terms like "big brother", "newspeak", and "doublethink" anticipated our current surveillance state, fake news, cancel culture, and censorship battles. Yet the term "Orwellian" is frequently misinterpreted and misrepresented. Orwell was a fierce critic of imperialism, totalitarianism, and inequality, yet he was also a misogynist with less than progressive views on reproductive rights. He was a complicated, often contradictory man, both ahead of his time and woefully of it. Beers' gimlet-eyed appraisal of Orwell's continued influence explores the tension between truth and free speech, and between individual liberty and the state that continues today.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This invigorating study from historian Beers (Red Ellen) investigates what George Orwell's life and writings can teach contemporary readers about modern controversies. Charting the development of Orwell's politics and philosophy, Beers notes that the author had become by his own account "a bit Bolshie" while attending the elite Eton boarding school, and that witnessing Britain's oppressive regime in Burma while enlisted in the Indian Police Service "awakened his social conscience." Evaluating competing ideological claims to Orwell's legacy, Beers argues that Orwell would have regarded skeptically individuals who invoke his name (and his dystopian novel, 1984) to complain about being de-platformed by social media companies for politically contentious views, citing Orwell's belief that his publisher had been within its rights to renege on their agreement to put out Homage to Catalonia in the late 1930s because it feared the report would undermine the anti-Franco cause in Spain. Beers has a knack for finding fresh angles on the much discussed author, highlighting both his overlooked sense of humor and the less savory aspects of his character, including his failure to consider the oppression of women in his writings on inequality and his disrespect for "women's boundaries and bodily autonomy" (he made "repeated unwelcome advances on women" and opposed abortion). This is a valuable exploration of what it actually means to be "Orwellian." (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A critical assessment of the contribution that George Orwell's writings can make to contemporary social, economic, and political problems. Drawing on Orwell's books, essays, and journalistic writings, Beers, a professor of British history and the author of Red Ellen and Your Britain, asks to what extent his ideas about language, truth, and democracy shed light on such enduring concerns as populism, tyranny, inequality, and patriarchy, as well as the efficacy of revolutionary change. For Beers, Orwell's career "can serve as a model for conscientious political criticism in our current moment." The author is particularly intent on broadening our perspective beyond Orwell's most famous books, Animal Farm and 1984--notwithstanding their importance for understanding his anti-communism, anti-imperialism, and belief that "any society held a potential for tyranny." Further threatening democracy, Orwell claimed, are social prejudices and the poverty, inequalities, and status distinctions attendant to capitalism. A democratic socialist, he defended individual liberty while championing communitarian values, When it came to patriarchy, Orwell had little useful to say about gender politics. He was a misogynist in his writings and his personal life. As for revolution, Orwell had gone to Spain in the late 1930s to fight with the Republicans in the Civil War and accepted that violence was, at times, necessary. Nonetheless, he was committed to "the importance of finding unity in a shared sense of humanity," hoping to realize "meaningful social equality without sacrificing personal liberty." While Beers convincingly uses Orwell's work to address current events, her discussions too often drift from the basic ideas with which he was grappling. Her careful reflections on Orwell's thought are of value for those familiar with his work and those who only know him from two of his books. A determined attempt to rescue Orwell from the clutches of right-wing pundits and others who misconstrue his messages. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
