{"product_id":"book-cxom","title":"The Ministry of Truth","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Rich and compelling. . .Lynskey’s account of the reach of \u003ci\u003e1984\u003c\/i\u003e is revelatory.”\u003cbr\u003e--George Packer, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn authoritative, wide-ranging, and incredibly timely history of \u003ci\u003e1984\u003c\/i\u003e--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.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e1984\u003c\/i\u003e 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 (\u003ci\u003eThe Handmaid's Tale\u003c\/i\u003e), films (\u003ci\u003eBrazil\u003c\/i\u003e), television shows (\u003ci\u003eV for Vendetta\u003c\/i\u003e), rock albums (\u003ci\u003eDiamond Dogs\u003c\/i\u003e), commercials (Apple), even reality TV (\u003ci\u003eBig Brother\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003ci\u003eThe Ministry of Truth\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book that fully examines the epochal and cultural event that is \u003ci\u003e1984\u003c\/i\u003e 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 on as he struggled to finish his masterpiece in his dying days; and the political and cultural phenomena that the novel ignited at once upon publication and that far from subsiding, have only grown over the decades. It explains how fiction history informs fiction and how fiction explains history.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49329429348656,"sku":"BDcxom","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/412052-cxom-Square.jpg?v=1733745012","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-cxom","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}