Tag: Brave New World

Prometheus Hall of Fame Appreciation review: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World offers dystopian vision of benevolent dictatorship

As part of the LFS’ ongoing Appreciation series of review-essays explaining how each Prometheus Award-winner fits the distinctive libertarian and anti-authoritarian focus of the sf/fantasy award and why it deserved to win, here is an Appreciation of Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World.

By Michael Grossberg

Brave New World, the 2026 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner, is a classic of dystopian literature. Yet, Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel couldn’t be more timely as a cautionary tale about seemingly benevolent tyranny.

Ranked fifth on Modern Library’s list of the century’s 100 Best Novels in English, Brave New World continues to connect with generations of readers, many anxious about losing individual identities and liberties in a fast-changing world dominated by authoritarian elites.

Responding to his era of rising absolutist ideologies, Huxley (1894-1963) achieved a remarkable clarity of vision. His novel explicitly dramatizes the inherent tensions between individualism and collectivism and exposes the consequences when the fertile and dynamic flux of freedom is replaced by the bland stasis of regimented conformity.

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The 46th Prometheus Awards: Trev Huxley’s Brave New World acceptance speech about our surveillance society and the ‘designer drug’ of social media

Editor’s note: Trev and Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren, spoke Aug. 16, 2026, at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony to accept the award for Huxley’s classic dystopian novel Brave New World, the 50th work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. This is Trev Huxley’s speech.

Trev Huxley speaking at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony on Zoom (File photo)

By Trev Huxley

I look around today and find myself in a world that’s a combination of my grandfather’s, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World and his former student George Orwell’s 1984.

A number of years ago I sat down with a senior Facebook executive who during our discussion looked at me and said “Trev we know more about you than you know about yourself.”

It was a bit of a boast, but not one that was a very hollow boast. They at the time were acquiring every commercially known database that they could get their hands on and compiling with the data they collected to create a profile of everyone in their network.

We now live in a society where surveillance has gotten into such an extreme level that the Chinese government virtually knows everything about everyone that lives there and can track them everywhere in real time. That’s the 1984 downside of my reality.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Trev Huxley’s Brave New World acceptance speech about our surveillance society and the ‘designer drug’ of social media

The 46th Prometheus Awards: Tessa Huxley on her grandfather Aldous Huxley and the relevance today of Brave New World, the 2026 Hall of Fame winner


Editor’s note: Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s granddaughter, spoke Aug. 16, 2026, at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony to accept the award for Huxley’s classic dystopian novel Brave New World, the 50th work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

By Tessa Huxley

For some reason I felt the need to reread Brave New World in February of this year, long before Michael Grossberg wrote to my brother and I regarding the Prometheus Award. Like many of you, I am sure, I had read it as a teenager and again in my late 20’s and in my 30’s.

What really struck me in February was just how incredibly relevant the book is today, in 2026.

Continue reading The 46th Prometheus Awards: Tessa Huxley on her grandfather Aldous Huxley and the relevance today of Brave New World, the 2026 Hall of Fame winner


Brave New World’s timely warning needed now: Huxley trustee Jack Miles’ acceptance speech for Aldous Huxley’s Hall of Fame winner


Jack Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Trust (Photo courtesy of Miles)

Editor’s note: This is the text of the acceptance speech by Pulitzer-winning author Jack Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, for Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the 2026 Prometheus Hall of Fame winner. Miles delivered a somewhat shorter speech Aug. 16, 2026, during the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony.

By Jack Miles

Speaking for the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, I am pleased to salute the Libertarian Futurist Society for awarding the Society’s Prometheus Award to Aldous Huxley’s dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World.

By imagining proleptically and prophetically just how far state control over society might go, Brave New World delivered a warning that is as needed now as it ever was. 

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Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer, J. Kenton Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


By Michael Grossberg

The 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony is shaping up to be one of the most interesting, thought-provoking and exciting in years.

Ten speakers from around the world have been lined up for the roughly hourlong awards show, which will present the two annual categories for Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (the Prometheus Hall of Fame) plus an occasional Special Award – the first Prometheus Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Here is the Zoom link to watch the awards live:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87824388418?pwd=CsoznF4wtlLNTYvEotlIpVJkCoGb9I.1

All Libertarian Futurist Society members, other SF/fantasy fans and the general public are invited to watch the live Zoom event, which will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern time) on Sunday Aug. 16, 2026.

So who are the 10 presenters, winners and other speakers?

Continue reading Here’s the Zoom link to watch the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, with speakers Ilya Somin, Travis Corcoran, 2026 winners Dave Freer, J. Kenton Pierce and Aldous Huxley’s grandchildren


A Pulitzer-winning writer and Aldous Huxley’s two grandchildren to accept Hall of Fame award Aug. 16 for Brave New World

By Michael Grossberg

Brave New World, the classic dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) warning about a future “soft tyranny” under a seemingly benevolent State, will be the 50th work to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame.

The Libertarian Futurist Society is pleased to announce that Huxley’s two grandchildren Tessa and Trevenan Huxley and Pulitzer-winning author Jack Miles will accept the posthumous award following the keynote speech by Ilya Somin, guest presenter of the Hall of Fame category.

The Huxleys and Miles, co-trustee of the Aldous and Laura Huxley Literary Trust, will deliver acceptance speeches at the 46th Prometheus Awards ceremony, roughly an hourlong live Zoom event beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday (Eastern time) Aug. 16 and open to the public.

Tessa Huxley, Aldous Huxley’s granddaughter (Photo courtesy of Tessa Huxley)

“I was delighted to learn of the honor being bestowed upon my grandfather,” Tessa Huxley said in an email.

“I am pleased that others find Brave New World as important and relevant as I do.  I re-read Brave New World early this year and was really struck by the seductive nature of his imaginary world and that of the USA… In particular, in 2026 where Americans seem endlessly obsessed by consumerism and pleasure seeking and apparently rather proud of it.”

Continue reading A Pulitzer-winning writer and Aldous Huxley’s two grandchildren to accept Hall of Fame award Aug. 16 for Brave New World

Brave New World: Huxley’s 1932 dystopian classic ranks among the oldest works to win the Prometheus Hall of Fame award


By Michael Grossberg

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of the oldest works to win the  Prometheus Award for Best Classic Fiction.

Published in 1932 by Chatto & Windus, Aldous Huxley’s pioneering dystopian novel has become so well-known around the world that its title has become an emblematic catchphrase signaling the dangers of authoritarianism.

Brave New World is the third-oldest work and the second-oldest novel to be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame. (The roughly hourlong Zoom ceremony, open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday Aug. 16 (Eastern time), with the Zoom link posted a week or so ahead on the Prometheus Blog.)

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Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World will be inducted into the Prometheus Hall of Fame in Aug. 16 ceremony

By Michael Grossberg

Brave New World will be inducted this year into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction, based on a vote by LFS members.

With its induction Sunday Aug. 16 during the 46th Prometheus awards ceremony, Aldous Huxley’s classic dystopian novel will be the 50th work to win this annual awards category, first presented in 1983.

Brave New World, ranked in fifth place by Modern Library on its list of the 100 Best Novels in English of the 20th century, continues to be considered among the most influential works of dystopian literature.

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Aldous Huxley’s Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist Brave New World has inspired an acclaimed graphic novel


By Michael Grossberg

A good number of Prometheus-winning works have been adapted into graphic novels, from Ayn Rand’s Anthem and L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach to the TV series The Prisoner.

One I discovered recently is Brave New World: A Graphic Novel – which is timely to mention here because Aldous Huxley’s novel is one of this year’s Best Classic Fiction finalists for the next Prometheus Hall of Fame award.

Fred Fordham adapted and illustrated Huxley’s dystopian cautionary tale into a 240-page graphic novel, published in 2022 by Harper.

The Guardian described the graphic novel as “brilliant” in its review.

Continue reading Aldous Huxley’s Prometheus Hall of Fame finalist Brave New World has inspired an acclaimed graphic novel


A guide to Prometheus Awards voting: Check out our reviews of this year’s five Hall of Fame finalists by Blish, Lewis, Huxley, Roberts and Stross


By Michael Grossberg

As a guide to the Prometheus Awards and for the convenience of Libertarian Futurist Society members, the Prometheus Blog has once again published full-length and in-depth reviews of all of this year’s Prometheus Hall of Fame finalists for Best Classic Fiction.

Libertarian Futurist Society members, who have the right to vote to select the annual Best Classic Fiction winner from the finalists, are invited to read our reviews of the five novels selected as 2026 finalists – hopefully, to whet your appetite to read each finalist and vote in this year’s Prometheus Awards.

First published between 1932 and 2003, the five finalists were written by James Blish (The Star Dwellers), C.S. Lewis (That Hideous Strength), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), Adam Roberts (Salt) and Charles Stross (Singularity Sky).

Other SF/fantasy fans and other libertarians, outside the LFS, also are invited to check out the reviews to better understand how they fit the distinctive dual focus of the Prometheus Awards on both quality and liberty.

Continue reading A guide to Prometheus Awards voting: Check out our reviews of this year’s five Hall of Fame finalists by Blish, Lewis, Huxley, Roberts and Stross