Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within society. Orwell, himself a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian government in the novel after Stalinist ...
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Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within society. Orwell, himself a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian government in the novel after Stalinist Russia. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within politics and the ways in which they are manipulated. The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a totalitarian superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Outer Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters into a forbidden relationship with a colleague, Julia, and starts to remember what life was like before the Party came to power. Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. It also popularised the term "Orwellian" as an adjective, with many terms used in the novel entering common usage, including "Big Brother", "doublethink", "Thought Police", "thoughtcrime", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "2 + 2 = 5", "proles", "Two Minutes Hate", "telescreen", and "Room 101". Time included it on its 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It was placed on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels.
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Add this copy of 1984 to cart. $17.14, new condition, Sold by Media Smart rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hawthorne, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Sonnet Books.
Add this copy of 1984 to cart. $18.03, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Sonnet Books.
Add this copy of 1984 to cart. $29.38, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2023 by Sonnet Books.
Written in 1948, George Orwell's classic book 1984 has great relevance for the modern reader. As is typical with this genre of books (such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver) a hero emerges who challenges the status quo of a totalitarian government in a dystopian future. What is startling about this book is that many of its themes can be found in modern life. The reshaping of consciousness (as evidenced by the Common Core, political correctness, the liberal news media, the entertainment industry, the prevalence of liberal college professors at our universities), the erasure of memory (revisionist history, the goal of removing all things Confederate), the surveillance state (Big Brother), control of thought and speech (again, political correctness), and a state of continuous war (the Global War on Terror) are all ideas and trends that can be found in both this book and in modern society. One can also see evidence of doublespeak in both this book and in modern life: there is nothing affordable about the (un)Affordable Care Act. Moreover, people are now being deceived into thinking that if we give more of our money and more of our freedom to the government, then, (somehow) we will create more prosperity and more liberty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Amazingly, George Orwell had the future all figured out decades ago with this eye opening and prescient book. The question is, are modern readers going to heed Orwell's warning?
msjrn8
Sep 26, 2013
THE classic for your personal library
Bought this one to replace my old, worn-out copy, with intentions to re-read the text, along with other such books. ( Looking Backward, for example.)
Marleen W
Aug 8, 2013
Things to know
A story of how a person thinks how things could happen, and could come to light again, based on the present governement overruling our Constitution.
Charles C
Dec 27, 2012
Half the size of a regular hard cover book. Threw it in the trash.
Cheryl B
Nov 22, 2012
Great seller
The question would I recommend this item to a friend doesn't seem to apply to a seller review. The book is boring.
The state of the book when received was excellent as was the length of time it took to receive the book.