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

Since his death in 1950, George Orwell has been canonized as England's foremost political writer, the holder of honesty, decency and freedom for the honourable "left". This work argues that the exaltation of Orwell, far from upholding dissent against the state, has sought to quash such opposition.

Lucas argues that, far from rescuing Orwell for us, we should be rescued from Orwell: "George the "contrarian" leads us into support of the American and British States; it is those who protest who are the "smelly little orthodoxies" which plagued him more than 60 years ago".