The Betrayal of Dissent: Beyond Orwell, Hitchens and the New American Century

Since his death in 1950, George Orwell has been canonised as England's foremost political writer, and the standard-bearer of honesty and decency for the honourable 'Left'. In this controversial polemic, Scott Lucas argues that the exaltation of Orwell, far from upholding dissent against the State, has sought to quash such opposition. Indeed, Orwell has become the icon of those who, in the pose of the contrarian, try to silence public opposition to US and U K foreign policy in the 'War on Terror'. Lucas's lively and readable critique of public intellectuals including Christopher Hitchens, Michael Walzer, David Aaronovitch, and Johann Hari - who have all invoked Orwellian honesty and decency to shut down dissent - will appeal to anyone disillusioned with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION 1 Orwell, Policeman of the 'Left' 2 The Canonisation of St. George 3 Christopher Hitchens: Becoming George 4 9-11 5 Beyond the Spirit of '68 6 Our Friends in America 7 How We Dissent: On Bushmen and the 'Preponderance of Power' 8 On the Eve of War: March 2003 9 Dissent and 'Liberation' EPILOGUE Beyond Orwell in Our New American Century

About the Author :
Scott Lucas is a regular contributor to the New Statesman. He is Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham and author of numerous books on US and British foreign policy, intelligence services, culture and ideology. He is the author of Orwell: LIfe and Times (2003).

Review :
Scott Lucas is the first writer to engage at length with the extraordinary split on the left created by the Iraq war. He does it brilliantly. He is completely fearless, challenging not only the bombast of Christopher Hitchens and other pro-war supporters but also our preconceptions about that icon of the left, George Orwell. -- Peter Wilby, Editor, New Statesman This is the compelling story of how self-constructed contrarians, whilst staking out the moral high ground, have acted to close down debate and stigmatise dissent. Lucas forces us to ask whether intellectuals can ever be suitable candidates for the policing of our souls when they themselves have abandoned any attachment to the sanctity of habeas animam. While 'Orwell', Hitchens, and Ignatieff wield their shovels not against the State but for it, Lucas takes his own shovel and digs a crater-sized hole for the burial of their self-aggrandising unwisdom, their distortions, and their intellectual opportunism. -- Frances Stonor Saunders, author of The Cultural Cold War and Who Paid the Piper? This is an angry book. It is also well researched, carefully footnoted and coherently argued. The author's point is not to damn Orwell and the much-slighter Hitchens, but to detail their inconsistencies, set their work in context and question their value to us as guides to current political action. -- Tribune This should be a fine and important book. -- Noam Chomsky