In 1999, Radio Netherlands broadcast a series of 12 programmes telling the story of the 20th century through famous books. In each programme, a guest speaker gives us the historical background behind the story in the book and tells us about the actual events that inspired it.
Though it was first published in 1932, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian science fiction novel “Brave New World” remains to this day a relevant and haunting depiction of one of the classic themes of the 20th century: the fear that our world may one day be perverted by social engineering, media hysteria, corporate conditioning and mass manipulation. Only one of the characters in the book tries to break out of the web.
Our guest speaker is the influential and prolific American political, social and economic thinker Jeremy Rifkin. “Brave New World ” is one of his favourite books.
Producer: Marijke van der Meer
Broadcast: December 1999