Product Description

Newspeak, Doublethink, Big Brother, the Thought Police-George Orwell's novel coined new and potent words of warning for us all. It is one of the most brilliant satires on totalitarianism ever written. 'It is a volley against the authoritarian in every personality, a polemic against every orthodoxy, an anarchistic blast against every unquestioning conformist... NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR is a great novel and a great tract because of the clarity of its call, and it will endure because its message is a permanent one: erroneous thought is the stuff of freedom'-Ben Pimlott

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #146019 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
'It is a volley against the authoritarian in every personality, a polemic against every orthodoxy, an anarchistic blast against every unquestioning conformist... Nineteen Eighty-Four is a great novel and a great tract because of the clarity of its call, and it will endure because its message is a permanent one: erroneous thought is the stuff of freedom'-Ben Pimlott

About the Author
Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in India in 1903. He was educated at Eton, served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and worked in Britain as a private tutor, schoolteacher, bookshop assistant and journalist. In 1936, Orwell went to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded. In 1938 he was admitted into a sanatorium and from then on was never fully fit. George Orwell died in London in 1950.

Customer Reviews

Deviates corrected for their own good
In a society that has eliminated many imbalances, surplus goods, and even class struggle, there are bound to be deviates; Winston Smith is one of those. He starts out, due to his inability to doublethink, with thoughtcrime. This is in a society that believes a thought is as real as the deed. Eventually he graduates through a series of misdemeanors to illicit sex and even plans to overthrow the very government that took him in as an orphan.
If he gets caught, he will be sent to the "Ministry of Love" where they have a record of 100% cures for this sort of insanity. They will even forgive his past indiscretions.

Be sure to watch the three different movies made from this book:
1984 (1954) Peter Cushing is Winston Smith
1984 (1956) Edmond O'Brien is Winston Smith
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) John Hurt is Winston smith

A classic
This is the story of Winston Smith and his rebellion against "Big Brother". By day he's a model citizen, aware that he's being watched. But then he begins to meet a woman, rents a room in the back of a shop, certain he can get more out of life than what the Party tells him to.
This is a compelling book, and worth reading if only to discover where the terms "Big Brother" and "Room 101" come from.