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The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell's 1984

1984 isn’t just a novel; it’s a key to understanding the modern world. Big Brother, the Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, 2+2=5 – Orwell’s final masterpiece gains potency and influence with every year. Dorian Lynskey is a writer, author and columnist. His new book examines 1984 and its roots in the utopian and dystopian literature that preceded it; Orwell’s personal experiences in wartime Britain; and the political and cultural phenomena that the novel ignited.

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction and the Orwell Prize for political writing.

“The defining book of 2019… Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth, a biography of the novel, has the zest and momentum of a Stephen King novel, and the piercing clarity and dark sensibility of Orwell himself.”

Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg Opinion

“Insightful, prescient, it underscores the book’s relevance to where we are now.”

Billy Bragg

“Everything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word ‘Orwellian’ to ask.”

Caitlin Moran

“Like all great parables, 1984 is only as timeless as its interpreters can make it relevant. Lynskey manages to place Orwell’s novel within a web of culture, politics and personalities, and thus shows how and why it continues to light up our thinking.”

Peter Pomerantsev

“Ministry of Truth is a fantastic & important read/listen & I know I will be reading it again in the coming months & years”

GREG LUKIANOFF

“Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey might be the most dangerous book published in 2019. Ostensibly, it's about the writing of 1984 and its lasting influence. But it's also a merciless dismantling of the Trump/MAGA world view yet published... all without mentioning Trump at all.”

Joe Hill

“Makes a rich and compelling case for the novel as the summation of Orwell’s entire body of work and a master key to understanding the modern world… Lynskey’s account of the reach of 1984 is revelatory.”

George Packer, The Atlantic

“A highly astute study ... Thoroughly researched and wearing its scholarship lightly, The Ministry of Truth is at its best in some of its pop cultural gleanings.”

DJ Taylor, The Guardian

“A brilliant book. Simply amazing.”

ECE TEMELKURAN

“A wonderful biography of 1984 and its evolving impact on our understanding of politics, society and reality itself. Highly recommend it.”

Darren Loki McGarvey

“Dorian Lynskey’s biography of “1984”, joins the dots between the age of fake news and Orwell’s work.”

The Economist

“Respectful and intelligent ‘biography’ of a novel.”

The Los Angeles Times

“Wide-ranging and sharply written”

Lev Mendes, The New York Times

“Perhaps the best book of its kind that I’ve ever read. The portrait it provides of Orwell is sharp, nuanced, and moving, and its capsule histories of the major and minor planets in orbit around 1984 are surprising and deeply informative. Above all, it’s just flat out fun to read. With The Ministry of Truth, Dorian Lynskey has done anyone who loves literature a great service.”

TOM BISSELL

“A lively literary history”

Mark Athitakis, Newsday

“Lynskey manages, against all odds, to find many original points to make about the dystopian classic… Lynskey does so much so well”

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The New Statesman

“Briskly written and brilliantly argued, The Ministry of Truth delves deep into the cultural impact—and terrifying relevance—of a book that, seventy years on, still delivers the jolt of a torturer’s electrodes.”

MARK DERY

“Fascinating… Freshly and powerfully argued… Richly informative… If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlivening book.”

JOHN CAREY, SUNDAY TIMES

“I cannot overstate how thought-provoking Dorian Lynskey’s Ministry of Truth is.”

Nick Cohen

“The best book I have read in a long time. Fizzing with ideas yet superbly readable, Lynskey’s book is both a warning and an exhortation for us all to be stubborn as Orwell was with facts and, like Winston Smith, to cling to the belief that 2+2=4.”

CJ Sansom

“Absurdly good”

James O’Brien

“Magisterial”

FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE

“Brilliantly interesting read for all Orwell fiends - loved it”

RUSSELL KANE

“A wonderfully wide-ranging survey ... Lynskey’s is a magnificent piece of work, an informed, intelligent and hugely readable history of past futures as well as a splendid introduction to Orwell.”

Alwyn Turner, The Literary Review

“Dorian Lynskey’s book amounts to a comprehensive survey of the history of utopia and dystopia, centring on Orwell’s immensely influential novel, and it is full of connections that make the reader’s mind spin off in all directions… Thought-provoking.”

Margaret Drabble, TLS

“A good book, nicely done, and on the side of virtue.”

David Aaronovitch, The Times

“[A] vibrant, spirited story of a man and his book… [A] fascinating literary history.”

Kirkus

“An engrossing, many-branched biography of the book and its valiant creator… In agile, syncopated prose, Lynskey briskly elucidates Orwell’s life… Running parallel to his vivid account of Orwell’s struggles as a writer of conscience is Lynskey’s illuminating history of utopian and dystopian literature.”

Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

“Idiosyncratic and acutely written”

JEAN SEATON, THE SPECTATOR

“In this excellent analysis, journalist Dorian Lynskey combines an impressive breadth of literary research with fascinating critical commentary on the novel’s intellectual origins and subsequent interpretation.”

Robin McGhee, The Daily Telegraph

“A deeply researched and highly readable intellectual history, providing a wealth of information and anecdotes about Orwell’s life and work. Lynskey skillfully weaves together literary and political histories to create a rich tapestry, full of context, color and insight into one of the most important books of the last century—and thus far, this century as well. The Ministry of Truth is an illuminating and entertaining companion to 1984, a novel whose relevance and necessity are more evident than ever, at a time when the very concept of objective reality is under attack.”

CHARLES YU

My guide to Orwell’s books in the new Macmillan editions

Where to buy

The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 by Dorian Lynskey is published by Pan Macmillan in the UK and Doubleday in the US. To order a copy go to:

Amazon

Waterstones

Foyles

Blackwell’s

Bookshop.org

US paperback