The Reading Room

Nineteen Eighty-Four, a Reading Room essay

On Nineteen Eighty-Four

Michael Fowler

Some books are so influential that their vocabulary becomes the language we use to discuss the dangers they describe. Nineteen Eighty-Four is the supreme example.

On Nineteen Eighty-Four

Michael Fowler

Some books are so influential that their vocabulary becomes the language we use to discuss the dangers they describe. Nineteen Eighty-Four is the supreme example.

Animal Farm, a Reading Room essay

On Animal Farm

Michael Fowler

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

On Animal Farm

Michael Fowler

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Brave New World, a Reading Room essay

On Brave New World

Michael Fowler

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932, is the great counterpart to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the two books are best read together because they imagine opposite roads to...

On Brave New World

Michael Fowler

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932, is the great counterpart to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the two books are best read together because they imagine opposite roads to...

On Tyranny, a Reading Room essay

Reading On Tyranny

Michael Fowler

Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, published in 2017, is the smallest book in this library and one of the most widely carried civic books of its era.

Reading On Tyranny

Michael Fowler

Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, published in 2017, is the smallest book in this library and one of the most widely carried civic books of its era.

The Origins of Political Order, a Reading Room essay

On The Origins of Political Order

Michael Fowler

Francis Fukuyama set out to answer the largest possible question in political science: where does political order come from? The Origins of Political Order, published in 2011, the first of...

On The Origins of Political Order

Michael Fowler

Francis Fukuyama set out to answer the largest possible question in political science: where does political order come from? The Origins of Political Order, published in 2011, the first of...

Twilight of Democracy, a Reading Room essay

On Twilight of Democracy

Michael Fowler

Anne Applebaum's Twilight of Democracy, published in 2020, asks a question that is at once political and intensely personal: why do people who once believed in liberal democracy turn against...

On Twilight of Democracy

Michael Fowler

Anne Applebaum's Twilight of Democracy, published in 2020, asks a question that is at once political and intensely personal: why do people who once believed in liberal democracy turn against...