Dorian Lynskey

An authoritative, wide-ranging and incredibly timely history of 1984 -- 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. Nineteen Eighty Four 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 (The Handmaid's Tale), films (Brazil), television shows (V for Vendetta), rock albums (Diamond Dogs), commercials (Apple), even reality TV (Big Brother). How to Build a Dystopia is the first book that fully examines the epochal and cultural event that is 1984 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 upon as he struggled to finish his masterpiece in his dying days; and the political and cultural phenomenon that the novel ignited at once upon publication and which far from subsiding, has only grown over the decades. It explains how fiction history informs fiction and how fiction explains history.

The Biography of Nineteen Eighty-Four

How to Build a Dystopia

Dorian Lynskey is one of the most prominent music critics writing today. With 33 Revolutions Per Minute, he offers an engrossing, insightful, and wonderfully researched history of protest music in the twentieth century and beyond. From Billie Holiday and Woodie Guthrie to Bob Dylan and the Clash to Green Day and Rage Against the Machine, 33 Revolutions Per Minute is a moving and fascinating portrait of a century of popular music that tried to change the world.

A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day

33 Revolutions per Minute

Ian Dunt

What makes people believe in conspiracy theories? Why have they taken over our political sphere? And how do we counter them before it’s too late?

The world has always had conspiracy theories. From the Illuminati to the deep state, the JFK assassination to the death of Princess Diana – there have always been those who believe that events are manipulated by shadowy forces with sinister intent. But in recent years, conspiracism has colonised the mainstream. These days, it is a booming industry, a political strategy and a pseudo-religion – and it’s threatening the foundations of liberal democracy.

Where once political battles were fought over ideas and values, it now feels as though we’re arguing over the nature of reality itself. The problem is bigger than lizard people or UFOs: left unchecked, conspiracy theories have the power to warp the fabric of society and justify unspeakable crimes.

In Conspiracy Theory: The Story of an Idea, Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey pull back the curtain on conspiracy theories: where they come from, who promotes them, how they work and what they’re doing to us. From biblical myth to online hysteria, this book explains what happens when the human gift for storytelling goes wrong – and how we might restore our common reality.

The Story of an Idea

Conspiracy Theory

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

وزارة الحقيقة

A rich, captivating, and darkly humorous look into the evolution of apocalyptic thought, exploring how film and literature interact with developments in science, politics, and culture, and what factors drive our perennial obsession with the end of the world.

As Dorian Lynskey writes, “People have been contemplating the end of the world for millennia.” In this immersive and compelling cultural history, Lynskey reveals how religious prophecies of the apocalypse were secularized in the early 19th century by Lord Byron and Mary Shelley in a time of dramatic social upheaval and temporary climate change, inciting a long tradition of visions of the end without gods.

With a discerning eye and acerbic wit, Lynskey examines how various doomsday tropes and predictions in literature, art, music, and film have arisen from contemporary anxieties, whether they be comets, pandemics, world wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Y2K, or the climate emergency. Far from being grim, Lynskey guides readers through a rich array of fascinating stories and surprising facts, allowing us to keep company with celebrated works of art and the people who made them, from H.G. Wells, Jack London, W.B. Yeats and J.G. Ballard to The Twilight Zone, Dr. Strangelove, Mad Max and The Terminator.

Prescient and original, Everything Must Go is a brilliant, sweeping work of history that provides many astute insights for our times and speaks to our urgent concerns for the future.

The Stories We Tell About The End Of The World

Everything Must Go 

biografia "Roku 1984" Orwella

Ministerstwo prawdy

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2019 Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2020 'Fascinating . . . If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book.' John Carey, Sunday Times George Orwell's 1984 has become a defining narrative of the modern world. Its cultural influence can be observed in some of the most notable creations of the past seventy years, from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to the reality TV landmark Big Brother, while ideas such as 'thought police', 'doublethink', and 'Newspeak' are ingrained in our language. The Ministry of Truth charts the life of one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is ever more relevant in this tumultuous era of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'. Dorian Lynskey investigates the influences that came together in the writing of 1984 from Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War and in wartime London to his fascination with utopian and dystopian fiction. Lynskey explores the phenomenon the novel became when it was first published in 1949 and the changing ways in which it has been read over the decades since, revealing how history can inform fiction and how fiction can influence history. 'Everything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word "Orwellian" to ask.' Caitlin Moran

A Biography of George Orwell's 1984

The Ministry of Truth

'1984', de George Orwell, se ha convertido en un relato definitorio del mundo moderno. Su influencia cultural puede observarse en algunas de las creaciones más notables de los últimos setenta años, desde 'El cuento de la criada' de Margaret Atwood hasta el hito televisivo Gran Hermano, mientras que ideas como "policía del pensamiento", "doblepensamiento" y "Newspeak" están arraigadas en nuestro lenguaje. 'El Ministerio de la Verdad' traza la vida de uno de los libros más influyentes del siglo XX y una obra que es cada vez más relevante en esta tumultuosa era de "noticias falsas" y "hechos alternativos". Dorian Lynskey investiga las influencias que confluyeron en la escritura de 1984, desde las experiencias de Orwell en la Guerra Civil española y en el Londres de la guerra hasta su fascinación por la ficción utópica y distópica. Lynskey explora el fenómeno en que se convirtió la novela cuando se publicó por primera vez en 1949 y las formas cambiantes en que se ha leído desde entonces, revelando cómo la historia puede orientar a la ficción y cómo la ficción puede influir en la historia. Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2019 Longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2020. "Todo lo que querías saber sobre 1984 pero estabas demasiado ocupado usando mal la palabra "orwelliano" para preguntarlo"- Caitlin Moran "La biografía de Dorian Lynskey sobre "1984", une los puntos entre la era de las fake news y la obra de Orwell". The Economist

El ministerio de la verdad

Nenhum romance do século XX teve maior influência do que 1984. Essa é a tese do autor de O Ministério da Verdade, primeiro livro a examinar completamente a origem e o legado da obra-prima de George Orwell. Quando 1984 foi publicado no Reino Unido, em 8 de junho de 1949, um crítico perguntou se um romance tão oportuno naquele momento teria a possibilidade de exercer a mesma influência nas gerações seguintes. Hoje, é praticamente impossível falar sobre propaganda, vigilância, autoritarismo ou fake news sem fazer referência à obra-prima de George Orwell. Em O Ministério da Verdade, o crítico britânico Dorian Lynskey remonta a gênese de 1984 e investiga o alcance do romance na nossa cultura. Além de expressões que se tornaram corriqueiras como "Big Brother", "Polícia das Ideias", "duplipensar", "pensamento-crime" e "Novafala", Lynskey nos mostra como o romance inspirou filmes, séries de TV, peças de teatro, óperas, o álbum Diamond Dogs, de David Bowie, os livros O conto da aia, de Margaret Atwood, e V de Vingança, de Alan Moore e David Lloyd, o filme Brazil, de Terry Gilliam, entre outras obras. De modo acessível e informativo, o autor afirma a grandeza duradoura do romance de Orwell. Um guia fundamental para o livro mais emblemático do mundo contemporâneo. "Se você tem o mínimo interesse em Orwell ou em saber como nossa cultura vem se transformando, deve ler este livro brilhante e esclarecedor." — Sunday Times

Dorian Lynskey

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