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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780451524935
ISBN: 0451524934
Label: New American Library
Manufacturer: New American Library
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 268
Publication Date: 1961-01-01
Publisher: New American Library
Studio: New American Library

"Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere."

The year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population center of Airstrip One.

Airstrip One is part of the vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and Eastasia. At any moment, depending upon current alignments, all existing records show either that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith knows this, because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant "correction" of such records. "'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"

In a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big Brother is always Watching You and the Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. He knows the Party's official image of the world is a fluid fiction. He knows the Party controls the people by feeding them lies and narrowing their imaginations through a process of bewilderment and brutalization that alienates each individual from his fellows and deprives him of every liberating human pursuit from reasoned inquiry to sexual passion. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Newspeak, doublethink, thoughtcrime--in 1984, George Orwell created a whole vocabulary of words concerning totalitarian control that have since passed into our common vocabulary. More importantly, he has portrayed a chillingly credible dystopia. In our deeply anxious world, the seeds of unthinking conformity are everywhere in evidence; and Big Brother is always looking for his chance. --Daniel Hintzsche

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Distrubing Portent of Socialism's Logical Ends
Review: This is the classic and the mould of the dystopian narrative. Clearly written to explore the plausibility of what would happen if the technocratic regime of the socialist state was allowed to take its course, it stretches beyond this very palpable social critique. The final part is the most disturbing and harrowing as one can almost feel Winston's physical and psychological torment in a world that forbids love and legitimates peace through fear.

I am amazed that this was written so long ago since these drives in social order seem so shockingly prevalent and the spectre of war as a lever to condition responses from the masses is clearly a vehicle even in the US. It does slowdown in the middle with the very transparent political commentary wrought by Goldstein's manual. Yet the impact of what abuse and harnessing of technical, psychological, social, and political power punches hard at the end.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Big Brother is DEFINANTLY watching
Review: I did not personally choose to read 1984 and at first had I no interest whatsoever, however that quickly changed when I got past the peculiar lingo of "newspeak" (annoyed me that I had to keep jumping to the back of the book for the meanings). Orwell intrigued me with his descriptive writing and caused me to hang on his every word as Wilson Smith, the main character, went about his life in a supposed Utopia. The fact that Big Brother, an unknown and possibly inexistent force, has so much control over this world. At first I was skeptic as to how on point Orwell would be predicting what may occur in the future but he was somewhat dead on. The entire movement of "The Party" seemed like modern day communism - everyone was referred to as comrade and no one had any say and couldn't even think negatively about anything that may have seemed wrong in society, for the thought police would get you. No one was treated better nor worse except if you were a traitor, then you were VAPORIZED!!!! As funny as it may sound, If Orwell had used actual countries, I would of thought it was factual, rather than some prophetic vision.

One of my favorite scenes in 1984 was when Julia, Wilson's lover, came back from a proletarian quarter of the town wearing make-up and speaking of wearing a womans frock. I reminded me of a scene out of Pleasantville. She was only person with rouge cheeks and deeply reddened lips and make-up dabbed here and there, she stood out like a sore thumb.

The importance of castes and war, erasing the past and replacing it with falsified information, hiding from the authorities, and only feeling safe when the lights are out; Orwell makes you wonder if theses rules still apply in modern time.

I suggest more people read this or any other by George Orwell, I plan on reading Animal Farm next.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Excellent Book, very poor editing on RosettaBooks part
Review: The book itself is quite great. I'll spare you all the trouble of another plot synopsis or critique. My one problem is that the OCR for this edition looks like it was done by an infant. There are consistent errors that one sees in OCR, the becomes die, time becomes tune, periods are missed, etc. I paid money for this book, and I didn't expect it to have so may typographical errors.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Chase Von's Review For 1984
Review: Unlike a lot of people who were told to read this in High School, I didn't learn of it until a few brief years ago. I'd heard of it, but didn't really "get" why so many people were blown away by it. Then I read it and have since made it a point to get my hands on everything this man had ever written! George Orwell was no doubt a genius, visionary, prophet and a definite priceless gift to all of humanity. 1984 written in the late 1940's, (I see 1949 in my book, but I don't want to nail down a date as there have been reprints), someone else here has stated 1948 which if so, is still incredibly beyond remarkable because what he describes is something that sounds so much like the world we currently live in today, and the potential for it to be this world which he describes? Well, unfortunately the means are in fact all present now. We can be observed pretty much around the clock from when we leave our homes until we arrive. With what can be done with cell phones, GPS etc but I won't go into what should already be quite obvious to all. The fact of the matter is he foretold with pin point accuracy just how things could be and the frightening thing is many of these things are in my opinion in affect. New Speak, Thought Police, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, Big Brother and countless other things he writes about ring with such an eery realness one has to wonder if he time traveled into our present day and perhaps slightly beyond and then returned to his time to write about it to truly warn us what was at stake. I won't tell the story, as George does that exceptional well to the point where you feel as if you are seeing this "World" he paints through the eyes of the main character "Winston".

So much so that even though it was written years ago, it reads as if in many cases it could have been written today, or yesterday. Like Gene Rodenbury's Star Trek, George Orwell's 1984 is definitely light years ahead of its time. I don't think this book can be recommended highly enough to those who have not yet read it. Nor do five stars even remotely come close to giving this Master Piece it's due credit. Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Good book, Kindle edition needs proofreading
Review: I have read Animal Farm before this one, and enjoyed it greatly. I was not disappointed by this book, despite my expectations being high. He presents quite an intriguing idea of a 1984 deprived of basic freedoms and livestyle that was very perceivable in the depths of 1948.
That being said, the Kindle edition needs to be checked for continuity errors and proofread for spelling, grammatical, and punctuational errors.

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