On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss how important struggle is in forming a human person before introducing Hillsdale College president Dr. Larry P. Arnn.

Totalitarian novels depict regimes that exert complete and pervasive control over the lives of their subjects. George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Arthur Koestler, and C.S. Lewis imagine the terrible possibilities of unchecked modern tyranny. Join Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, and Hillsdale College students in this exploration of 1984, Brave New World, Darkness at Noon, and That Hideous Strength.

The course includes four lectures and four conversations, each about 30 minutes long. It is structured with one lecture about each book followed by a conversation between Dr. Arnn and the students about themes from that book.

Huxley describes a world in which science has provided the ability to engineer children in test tubes to suit them to specific castes. The ubiquitous drug Soma suppresses ambition and aggression by providing euphoria without any side effects.

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Totalitarian Novels: Drugs and Genetics in Brave New World