Aldous Huxley wrote to George Orwell about '1984'

George Orwell's '1984' is one of the most famous dystopian works

Orwell's life experiences, from living among the poor to witnessing the rise of authoritarian regimes, deeply shaped his worldview. His iconic works, "Animal Farm" and "1984," offered stark warnings about power, control, and propaganda, making him one of the most enduring voices against totalitarianism.

'Brave New World' author Aldous Huxley turned to LSD on his deathbed

As "Brave New World" author Aldous Huxley lay dying of cancer in 1963, he asked his wife Laura to dose him with the hallucinogen LSD. A month later, Laura Huxley wrote a letter detailing the author's final trip, which she notes ended "so slowly, so gently, like a piece of music just finishing in a sempre piu piano dolcemente."

Read George Orwell's essay 'Why I Write'

Written in 1946—after the publication of "Animal Farm" but before "1984"—the essay is part memoir of how Orwell came to see himself as a writer and part analysis of what drives his best work. Commenting on a book he planned to start—likely "1984"—he remarks, "It is bound to be a failure, every book is a failure, but I do know with some clarity what kind of book I want to write."

Read the scathing review of '1984' by science fiction legend Isaac Asimov

Asimov, the author of the "Foundation" series and a major figure in science fiction, tore Orwell's novel apart in a 1980 review, writing, "This is not science fiction, but a distorted nostalgia for a past that never was."

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Read Orwell's original preface to 'Animal Farm,' criticizing the publishers who had rejected the book

Orwell's opening remarks for the 1945 publication chastised the publishers who'd rejected the manuscript, even quoting one of them directly who said they weren't interested in offending the Soviet Union, a British ally. The essay was not included with the book, though it appeared several decades later, after Orwell's death, in the Times Literary Supplement.

Writer Christopher Hitchens on why Orwell matters

In this 2008 segment with NPR, the author of "Why Orwell Matters" discusses his admiration for the author and fields questions from callers. Hitchens notes that anyone can write about tyranny, but that Orwell's brilliance is in exploring why people "are so keen to obey."

Why school boards ban dystopian books

Journalist Ali Velshi analyzes the lasting appeal of Lois Lowry’s "The Giver" and George Orwell’s "1984," two dystopian novels that have courted controversy since their publications. Beyond his interpretations, though, Velshi wants to understand why school boards perennially ban these books—and what makes them so fascinating for adolescent readers. In his search, he talks to Lowry about the lasting influence of her novel and to Orwell expert James McCallister about the prescient political portrait in "1984."

'Dystopia,' explained

John Stuart Mill introduced the term "dystopia" in 1868 to critique harmful policies, calling it the opposite of utopia, or an ideal world. The concept grew as industrialization and totalitarian regimes exposed societal flaws, inspiring works like George Orwell's "1984" to warn against oppression and moral decay.

Why Orwell called Dalí a 'disgusting human being'

Writer George Orwell took offense at the disturbing actions described in Dalí's salacious autobiography "The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí." In a 1944 essay, Orwell described the cruelty and moral degradation of Dalí—while also admitting the artist's undeniable talent.

Critic Neil Postman argued modern technology is dystopian

Cultural critic Neil Postman argued in 1985's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" that mass media had made the dystopia of Huxley's "Brave New World" a reality. In 1992, he published "Technopoly," a wider critique of the utopian visions of technology or, as Postman calls it, "all of the machinery that takes people out of public arenas and keeps them fixed in their homes."

'The Stranger' remains a popular novel for teenagers

Camus' book's themes—alienation, transgression, and existentialism—continue to resonate with adolescent reader. That's also true of other popular teenage touchstones, like Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four," and Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar," which are still widely read—and assigned by high school teachers. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The story behind David Bowie's failed '1984' musical

The musician hoped to adapt Orwell's dystopian novel for the stage, though the project floundered after Orwell's widow—who found Bowie's vision in poor taste—refused to grant him the rights. Several of the project's songs—including "Big Brother" and "1984"—eventually appeared on Bowie's 1974 album "Diamond Dogs."

14 famous authors trash-talking classic books

Just because something's considered a "classic" doesn't mean it's universally loved. Even the world's most respected writers don't agree on what defines great literature. Look no further than this list of writers criticizing canonical texts, like Charlotte Brontë deriding Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" or Virginia Woolf on James Joyce's "Ulysses." The most succinct might be Aldous Huxley on Jack Kerouac's "On the Road": "I got a little bored after a time. I mean, the road seemed to be awfully long."

Kurt Vonnegut's letter to the school board that banned his book

In 1973, a high school English teacher in North Dakota taught Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five," the classic time-hopping novel about World War II and the bombing of Dresden. The head of the school board was outraged by what he considered to be obscene material in Vonnegut's novel and ordered all of the students' copies of the book burned. When Vonnegut caught wind of those plans, he wrote this letter to the school board, protesting the decision.

Camus and Sartre admired each other's work before becoming friends

The two writers, who would later be considered two of the biggest names associated with existentialism, wrote positive reviews of each others' early work, with Camus praising Sartre's novel "Nausea" and story collection "The Wall" and, later, Sartre favorably compared Camus' "The Stranger" to Franz Kafka and Ernest Hemingway. Still, their reviews included some critiques, hinting at the larger disagreements that would come much later.

Watch writer John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Winston Churchill said he was comforted by 'Pride and Prejudice' during World War II

The prime minister was bedridden in a hospital with pneumonia in 1943. In his memoirs, Churchill recalls how Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" comforted him, especially because its characters remained calm amid the political turbulence of the time.

Some believe 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' is a political allegory

Although Baum claimed his book was intended as a simple children's story, scholars challenged that notion. One high school history teacher, Henry Littlefield, began teaching the book as a satire of the Gilded Age and published an essay inspiring other scholars to consider the text as a politically charged allegory.

‘The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby’ was a letter to an editor

Wolfe pitched a story about custom-made cars to Esquire with a satirical angle. While struggling to actually put the piece together, he explained to the editor what he wanted it to be. The editor published the letter as is, removing the greeting. The seminal article became a book of essays.

JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis met at Oxford and bonded over Norse mythology

The “Lord of the Rings” mastermind and “The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe” author were colleagues at Oxford University and shared an appreciation for Norse mythology, which continues to inform the fantasy genre. They were also a part of the same informal literary group, the Inklings, where they’d discuss one another’s works-in-progress.

Poet Robert Lowell encouraged O'Connor to turn away from commercial appeal

When O’Connor secured a publisher for “Wise Blood,” her publisher envisioned it as a broad, commercial comedy, something Lowell—the accomplished poet whom she met after graduate school at Yaddo, an artist colony in upstate New York—suggested she avoid, encouraging her to lean into her more esoteric and darker interests. This interview with O’Connor biographer Brad Gooch elaborates on that advice.

Oppenheimer reflected on the atomic bomb's legacy two decades later

In a 1965 CBS interview, J. Robert Oppenheimer discussed his role as Los Alamos director, expressing deeply mixed feelings about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and reflecting on how nuclear weapons had transformed the world since their first use.

Candide's 'Voltaire' satirized blind optimism

The French philosopher’s most famous work, published in 1759, cataloged the journey of its titular hero, who was guided by a crackpot philosopher and the belief that optimism was the solution to life’s problems, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Read Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters from 1977 on

Each year, Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholder letters are eagerly anticipated by employees and Buffett fans alike. A resource lists every single letter from 1977 and is great for anyone seeking a peek behind the curtain into Buffett’s brain through years of stock market booms and busts.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes championed the idea of speech as a 'marketplace of ideas'

In his landmark dissent in Abrams v. United States, Justice Holmes argued that the best way to combat harmful ideas is through open competition—a principle that became foundational to modern First Amendment law.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.