There's a reason why words like "Orwellian" and "thoughtcrime" have stuck in the public consciousness for more than 65 years, and that reason is George Orwell's 1984.
A denser, more complex read than Orwell's also-famous Animal Farm, 1984 is a story about systemic government oppression and the dark side of humanity. We lighten up the proceedings a bit with ... Show More
Jun 1
Ep 753 - You Are a Millionaire, by Jay Leibold (Choose Your Own Adventure #98)
Living in our age of elite impunity made us want to imagine what it must be like to have one million US dollars (approximately $2.6 million, when adjusted for inflation). Luckily, there's a book series that lets you choose to be anything you want to be, as long as what you want t ... Show More
1h 26m
May 25
Ep 752 - Daisy Jones and The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In 2019, author Taylor Jenkins Reid released her sixth novel Daisy Jones & The Six, a fictional oral history of a Fleetwood Mac-esque 70s rock band. In May 2026, Andrew and Craig from Overdue recorded a podcast about the author, her novels, the themes and points of inspiration th ... Show More
1h 19m
Jul 2020
1984 Explained | George Orwell
<p>George Orwell depicts what a world could possibly look like under an authoritarian regime in his dystopian novel 1984, coining neologisms such as Big Brother, Thoughtcrime and Doublethink. </p>
<p>Published in 1949, it remains highly influential in popular cu ... Show More
11m 12s
Aug 2016
03 – How To Run An Efficient Dystopia – Taylorism and Science Fiction Cities
George & Luke survey three dystopian cities; the glass perfection of Yvegny Zamyatin’s ‘We’, the consumer World State of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, and the shattered ruin of George Orwell’s ‘1984’. Competing visions of technological progress gone awry, and the real-world ... Show More
1h 34m
Mar 2023
Michael and Us: My Orwell Left or Right
<p>George Orwell's popularity is at a new high in the post-Trump era, and he's been claimed by both the left and right. We discuss NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1984), Michael Radford's feature-film adaptation of Orwell's most famous novel, and try to rescue a self-described socialist fr ... Show More
48m 31s