Hello, this is the website of Dorian Lynskey, where you’ll find information about my books, a selection of my articles, contact details and other useful links.

I am the author of two acclaimed books, 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs (2011) and The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 (2019), which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Orwell Prize. My new book Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World is published on 11 April 2024.

My journalism has appeared in titles including The Guardian, The Observer, i, BBC Culture, GQ, Q, MOJO, Empire, Billboard, Air Mail, Pitchfork, The New Statesman, The Spectator, The Literary Review, The Los Angeles Times, UnHerd, The Big Issue and The Village Voice. I also co-host the Origin Story and Oh God, What Now? podcasts.


 


A riveting and brilliantly original exploration of our fantasies of the end of the world from Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to HBO’s The Last of Us, via Stanley Kubrick, J. G. Ballard, and Mad Max.

Dorian Lynskey explores stories of the end in fiction and film, from nuclear holocaust to collision with an asteroid, a revolt of the machines or a collapsing climate. Such fantasies of doom have been informed by political and scientific developments, and have shaped the narratives of politics, science and journalism in turn.

As the world emerges from a devastating pandemic and the news is full of wildfires, floods and hurricanes, as we focus on the implications of AI and the resurgent threat of nuclear war, these stories — and what they say about us — seem more relevant than ever. And yet every generation has had its own fears. We may expect the end, but so did our forebears. What is it in human nature that makes us imagine, and even crave, the ultimate conclusion to our story?

The result is nothing less than a cultural history of the modern world, weaving together politics, history, science, and high and popular culture, in a book that is grippingly readable and deeply illuminating about ourselves and our times.


REVIEWS

Everything Must Go will make you happy to be alive and reading — until the lights go out… Brilliant’ - ADAM BEGLEY, THE SPECTATOR

‘In less skilled hands this 10-Armageddons-a-page pace might make or a depressing read, but Lynskey’s encyclopedic knowledge, and his glee at the sheer inventiveness of the doomsayers’ creations, make this an unlikely page-turner… a curiously entertaining read.’ - MAT OSMAN, THE OBSERVER

‘Clever and voluminous… So engagingly plotted and written that it’s a pleasure to bask in its constant stream of remarkable titbits and illuminating insights.’ - THE GUARDIAN

 ‘A major piece of work, [a] heavyweight yet fleet-of-foot look at humankind’s fixation on the end of days, told through the prism of history, religion, literature, popular art, science and more, as compelling as it is authoritative.’ - IAN WINWOOD, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH


‘Lynskey has a journalist’s eye for a great story and a killer quotation… He is ridiculously well-informed.’ - THE LITERARY REVIEW

‘A fascinating guide… full of lesser-known cultural gems.’ - THE NEW SCIENTIST

‘For a book drenched in destruction, Everything Must Go is not depressing, and often wryly funny. It is incredibly deeply researched, fluently written, moving deftly between close-up detail and broad-brush analysis.’ - THE ARTS DESK

‘This is a rich and remarkable book’ - MATT D’ANCONA, THE NEW EUROPEAN

Book extracts & interviews


Who was the real Dr Strangelove? (BBC Culture)

 

Promotional
schedule

11 April - Real Magic Books, Wendover

12 April - Free Thinking, Radio 4

25 May - Orwell and the Future at Charleston Festival with Sandra Newman, Lisa Mullen and Louise Brealey - Buy tickets


Where to buy

Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World is published by Picador in the UK, out now, and Pantheon in the US on 28 January 2025. To order a copy from your preferred bookseller click on Pan Macmillan.