The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984 by Dorian Lynskey

An authoritative, wide-ranging and incredibly timely history of 1984 -- its literary sources, its composition by Orwell, its deep and lasting effect on the Cold War, and its vast influence throughout world culture at every level, from high to pop. Nineteen Eighty Four isn't just a novel; it's a key to understanding the modern world. George Orwell's final work is a treasure chest of ideas and memes -- Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5 -- that gain potency with every year. Particularly in 2016, when the election of Donald Trump made it a bestseller ("Ministry of Alternative Facts," anyone?). Its influence has morphed endlessly into novels (The Handmaid's Tale), films (Brazil), television shows (V for Vendetta), rock albums (Diamond Dogs), commercials (Apple), even reality TV (Big Brother). How to Build a Dystopia is the first book that fully examines the epochal and cultural event that is 1984 in all its aspects: its roots in the utopian and dystopian literature that preceded it; the personal experiences in wartime Great Britain that Orwell drew upon as he struggled to finish his masterpiece in his dying days; and the political and cultural phenomenon that the novel ignited at once upon publication and which far from subsiding, has only grown over the decades. It explains how fiction history informs fiction and how fiction explains history.

• | Author: Dorian Lynskey
• | Publisher: Doubleday
• | Publication Date: June 04, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 368 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 0385544057
• | ISBN-13: 9780385544054