1984 by George Orwell

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (a pseudonym for english author Eric Arthur Blair) was first published June 8, 1949 by Secker and Warburg, now an imprint of Random House Publishing. This lense will contain spoilers.

A dystopian novel, 1984 focused Blair's dislike of communism and imperialism by creating a world in the grips of a totalitarian regime, or 'Big Brother'. The protagonist is Winston Smith, who is lured into joining a secret organisation seeking to remove Big Brother from power. He does not realise that he is being set up by O'Brien, a government agent. When captured and tortured, he eventually betrays his only accomplice, Julia, the woman he loves, and discovers that the underground movement, the Brotherhood, which they believed themselves to have joined may not, in fact, exist.

The world described in Nineteen Eighty-Four contains striking parallels with the Stalinist Soviet Union and Hitler's Nazi Germany. There are thematic similarities: the betrayed-revolution, with which Orwell famously dealt in Animal Farm; the subordination of individuals to "the Party"; and the rigorous distinction between inner party, outer party and everyone else. There are also direct parallels of the activities within the society: leader worship, such as that towards Big Brother, who can be compared to dictators like Stalin and Hitler; Joycamps, which are a reference to concentration camps or gulags; Thought Police, a reference to the Gestapo or NKVD; daily exercise reminiscent of Nazi propaganda movies; and the Youth League, reminiscent of Hitler Youth or Octobrists/Pioneers.

All in all, this novel paints a frightening picture of what could have been and what could be if such a government ever arose to great power in the world.