1984 Tops Best-Seller List

If George Orwell were alive today, he would probably be less than thrilled to find that his vision of a dystopian future at the top of best-seller lists. Orwell's 1984, first published in 1949, is now at No. 1 on Amazon.com's best-seller list and publisher Penguin is planning to print another 75,000 copies to meet demand, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The surge in sales follows Kellyanne Conway's claim that the Trump administration was presenting "alternative facts" instead of falsehoods, an assertion critics described as distinctly Orwellian.

The book hit No. 6 on the list on Monday and reached No. 1 Tuesday night, reports the Telegraph, which notes Conway's comments inspired social media users to share 1984 quotes including: "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." The AP reports that Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel about an authoritarian president, It Can't Happen Here, is at No. 46 on Amazon's list, with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World at No. 71 and Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism also performing strongly. Trump's Art of the Deal, meanwhile, is at No. 31. (Orwell's classic also surged during the 2013 NSA surveillance controversy.)