The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984
Dorian Lynskey°°°
An authoritative, wide-ranging, & incredibly timely history of 1984--its literary sources, its composition by Orwell, its deep & lasting effect on the Cold War, & its vast influence throughout world culture at every level, from high to pop.
1984 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 & 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).
The Ministry of Truth is the first book that fully examines the epochal & cultural event that is 1984 in all its aspects: its roots in the utopian & dystopian literature that preceded it; the personal experiences in wartime Great Britain that Orwell drew on as he struggled to finish his masterpiece in his dying days; & the political & cultural phenomena that the novel ignited at once upon publication & that far from subsiding, have only grown over the decades. It explains how fiction history informs fiction & how fiction explains history.
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Dorian Lynskey writes about music, film, books ,& politics for publications including The Guardian, The Observer, the New Statesman, GQ, Billboard, Empire, & Mojo. His first book was 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs. A study of 33 pivotal songs with a political message, it was NME's Book of the Year & a 'Music Book of the Year' in The Daily Telegraph.