The Reading Room

Public Opinion, a Reading Room essay

On Public Opinion

Michael Fowler

Walter Lippmann asked, in 1922, a question that has only grown more urgent: how can the people govern themselves if they cannot actually know the world they are trying to...

On Public Opinion

Michael Fowler

Walter Lippmann asked, in 1922, a question that has only grown more urgent: how can the people govern themselves if they cannot actually know the world they are trying to...

Politics and the English Language, a Reading Room essay

On Politics and the English Language

Michael Fowler

George Orwell's 1946 essay Politics and the English Language is the shortest entry in this library's media cluster and one of the most useful things a citizen can read, because...

On Politics and the English Language

Michael Fowler

George Orwell's 1946 essay Politics and the English Language is the shortest entry in this library's media cluster and one of the most useful things a citizen can read, because...

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...

Propaganda, a Reading Room essay

On Propaganda

Michael Fowler

Edward Bernays opened his 1928 book Propaganda with a sentence that still chills: the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses, he wrote, is...

On Propaganda

Michael Fowler

Edward Bernays opened his 1928 book Propaganda with a sentence that still chills: the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses, he wrote, is...