American University historian and Professor of History Laura Beers is among the finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography for Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century (WW Norton). The book, also named one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2024, was inspired by her teaching at American University.  

Beers is among the 61 nominees across more than a dozen categories honoring literary achievement. The awards ceremony will take place on April 25 at the University of Southern California (USC), ahead of the 30th Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.  

Beers credits students in her West in Crisis 1900-1945 Core Curriculum class for sparking the idea for the book. Her students read seven books by Orwell, ranging from his first novel Burmese Days through his final work Nineteen Eighty-Four and drew connections between the past and present in the class. “Censorship, surveillance, and racial, gender and class prejudice were all central themes of Orwell’s work that remain pertinent to our modern era,” Beers says. “It made me think about how we can use Orwell to make sense of twenty-first-century movements. The book grew from there.”

More Relevant Than Ever

Orwell’s Ghosts was published last year, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Nineteen Eighty-Four. It’s described as an exploration of Orwell’s ideas about social injustice and political deception—and why they are still critical today. In the book, Beers considers Orwell’s full body of work to examine what “Orwellian” truly means. She explores how Orwell’s writings on free speech address the proliferation of misinformation and the emergence of cancel culture, highlights his critiques of capitalism and the oppressive nature of the British Empire, and, in contrast, analyzes his failure to understand feminism.

The book has garnered high praise. In a review by The Washington Independent Review of Books, Beers is praised for producing "a sleek, efficient, and powerful argument" that brings Orwell's thinking into the 21st century, acknowledging both his significant contributions and notable flaws.  

Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a critical assessment of the contribution that George Orwell’s writings can make to contemporary social, economic, and political problems,” and "a determined attempt to rescue Orwell from the clutches of right-wing pundits and others who misconstrue his messages.” Harvard Magazine hails the book as “a succinct, wide-ranging work…concluding with a reminder to those on the political left that they can only achieve their aims ‘through common endeavor’ with others.”

Orwell's Ghosts is Beers’s third well-received book. Red Ellen received the Stansky Award, and Beers’s writing has appeared in the New Republic and Washington Post, among other publications, and on CNN.com.

So, What Would Orwell Think?

Today, Orwell’s work feels more relevant than ever, with references to Nineteen Eighty-Four and “Orwellian” appearing everywhere, Beers says. Politicians and commentators across the ideological spectrum invoke his name to support their arguments, often in conflicting ways.

In her West in Crisis class, Beers challenged students to consider how Orwell might interpret today’s political landscape—examining issues like capitalism, imperialism, rising inequality, free speech, fake news, and cancel culture. “What would Orwell think?” she asked. She notes that the political right frequently cites Orwell to argue against censorship, as in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, where a baker refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, claiming that doing so would violate his right to free speech and religious freedom—an argument some described as “Orwellian.”

But is this the true meaning of Orwellian? Beers emphasizes that Orwell’s philosophy was rooted in two key principles: free speech and truth in speech. "In class, we discussed how Orwell was a staunch advocate for free expression, but he also believed in truth in speech,” she explains. “Famously, in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell defines freedom as the freedom to say that 2+2=4—not the freedom to say that 2+2=5. This tension—between the right to speak freely and the responsibility to uphold truth—remains central to debates today."

A Blueprint for Action in Troubled Times

Beers's West in Crisis course inspired undergraduate student Francine Worsoff to fully immerse herself in Orwell’s works. She read 1984, Animal Farm, Homage to Catalonia, Politics and the English Language, Burmese Days, The Road to Wigan Pier, Coming Up for Air, and The Lion and the Unicorn—along with Orwell’s Ghosts.

Looking at Orwell’s works as a whole reshaped Worsoff’s understanding of his literature, giving her a deeper, more thoughtful analysis of the often-overlooked themes running beneath his most celebrated works, she says. She explains that Orwell’s Ghosts is especially relevant today, urging readers to take a more holistic approach to literary excellence—one that acknowledges both the obvious and the understated elements of a writer’s work.  

Graduate student Saneet Chakradeo also emphasizes the book’s contemporary significance. “Orwell's Ghosts brilliantly describes parallels between Orwell’s time and today. The most important parallel is that while right-wing politics may use pro-free speech arguments to make their points, Orwell’s writings were clear on the need to counter these faux narratives and their use in promoting authoritarianism,” he explains.  

Chakradeo read the book in Historians’ Craft, a first-year MA course in historiography and methods, as an example of a scholarly work written for a non-academic, general audience. He adds that Orwell’s Ghosts offers a sense of hope in today’s turbulent times, offering hope and serving as a guide for meaningful change. “Orwell’s democratic socialism can be seen as a clear blueprint for action in these troubled times. As more people get exposed to Orwellian terms and concepts, reading the book can help them with cutting out the propaganda from reality.”