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A masterful retelling of Orwell's classic by the brilliant Sandra Newman, the book goes further than Orwell possibly could in exposing the effectiveness of modern propaganda and the reflexivity of hate from alleged liberals (this book was not the takedown of communism many believed, but was pointed at the fascism of the US and UK, and 'the ersatz virtue of the weak' is a phrase that sticks out to confirm it). She shows that, rather than a problem of the ultimate elite, the fascism of society comes from the Upper Middle Class, a people Orwell would not dare attack, as he came from the same sort of wealth and mobility.
Newman also has the intellectual courage to fight the sad tropes that aggressive words lead to actual violence, and to point out that UMC sloganeering is far more violent for being a foundational lie. This exposes some of the hypocrisy of Orwell, who understood that an Empire would always need enemies, and who was all too eager to join in demonizing the Russians and Chinese.
Still, the basic thesis is Orwell's and he was rather prescient about TV, workoholism, alcohol, and mindless escapism into infantile forms of entertainment becoming the purview of the Upper Middle Class, but Newman is the antidote to the bland literature of the MFA class (the only class that gets published anymore), and she turns Smith into the villain, a childish idealist who fell back on his programming as most in that comfortable class do.
A masterpiece.
Newman also has the intellectual courage to fight the sad tropes that aggressive words lead to actual violence, and to point out that UMC sloganeering is far more violent for being a foundational lie. This exposes some of the hypocrisy of Orwell, who understood that an Empire would always need enemies, and who was all too eager to join in demonizing the Russians and Chinese.
Still, the basic thesis is Orwell's and he was rather prescient about TV, workoholism, alcohol, and mindless escapism into infantile forms of entertainment becoming the purview of the Upper Middle Class, but Newman is the antidote to the bland literature of the MFA class (the only class that gets published anymore), and she turns Smith into the villain, a childish idealist who fell back on his programming as most in that comfortable class do.
A masterpiece.