Back in December I read an article Laura Beers published in The Conversation where she compared White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press conference on the so-called truth about the good news of the state of the economy under President Trump’s stewardship to the repeated pronouncements of the Ministry of Plenty in George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ This led me to pick up and read her book Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Centrury. Beers is a professor of British history at American University whose writing has appeared in the New Republic, Washington Post, CNN, among other publications. She joined me today to speak about her book and the enduring value of Orwell's insights for modern society, especially under this new Trump Regime.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, and iheart

READ:

• Karoline Leavitt’s White House briefing doublethink is straight out of Orwell’s ‘1984’
• Philadelphia Sues Over Trump Administration’s Removal of Slavery Exhibit at Independence National Historical Park
• Pittsburgh Professors Say Research Was Weaponized in Trump’s Higher Education Fight
• AI Is the Next Frontier for Far-Right Extremists to Spread Propaganda, Incite Violence, and Recruit New Followers
• Always Watching: How ICE’s Plan to Monitor Social Media 24/7 Threatens Privacy and Civic Participation

ALSO LISTEN TO:

• The Normalization of Book Banning in the United States, With PEN America’s Sabrina Baêta
• The History of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America, with Bill Mullen and Christopher Vials

Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music.

Follow us on BlueSky:

• @buckscountybeacon.bsky.social
• @cmychalejko.bsky.social
• @rcpress.bsky.social