Description

George Orwell wrote 1984 seventy-five years ago as a chilling warning about the future. Though the real year 1984 has passed, Orwell’s unsettling depiction of a totalitarian state determined to control the truth remains strikingly relevant today.

This special 75th Anniversary Edition features a new introductory essay by Dolen Perkins-Valdez—author of Take My Hand, winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction—as well as a new afterword by Sandra Newman, author of Julia: A Retelling of George Orwell’s 1984.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Winston Smith obediently carries out his work at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history according to the Party’s demands. With every lie he records, he grows increasingly resentful of the oppressive regime that relentlessly pursues absolute power and brutally punishes anyone who dares engage in independent thought. As he begins to question and think more freely, Winston painfully realizes that in the shadow world he inhabits, Big Brother is always watching.

A profoundly disturbing and unforgettable book, 1984 brings to life a dystopian society with frightening plausibility. Its warnings continue to resonate across generations, its urgency and relevance increasing rather than fading over time. The novel was honored as one of America’s best-loved books by PBS’s The Great American Read.