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Copies of Orwell’s ‘1984’ in High Demand

There’s one book that has gained in popularity since the start of Donald Trump’s term as president. It’s not Trump’s “Art of the D...

There's one book that has gained in popularity since the start of Donald Trump's term as president.

It's not Trump's "Art of the Deal." In fact, it was written in the mid-20th century.

In George Orwell's "1984," the government controls people through something called the Ministry of Truth.

Now, that novel is at the top of the Amazon best-seller list and its publisher has ordered 75,000 new copies perhaps because of its similarities to today.

Inside Albright Memorial Library in downtown Scranton, there are books of every kind, ones about the new President of the United States and some that were written long ago, looking ahead to the future for better or worse.

Young adult librarian Anna Kilcullen took Newswatch 16 in search of the library's copies of "1984" written by George Orwell shortly after the end of the second World War.

"It’s popular now because of the political climate," she said.

Kilcullen and others are not surprised people have a renewed interest in the dystopian, fictional story.

"It coined the term Big Brother. Now that’s used ubiquitously all over the place," said Kilcullen.

Tom Borthwick teaches English at Riverside High School and is an adjunct professor at Marywood University. He believes it makes sense that "1984" is an Amazon best seller after the first few days of the Trump presidency.

"You’re looking at a Trump presidency that is saying the facts aren’t actually the facts. In "1984" you have a government through Ministry of Truth that does the same thing," he said.

At Books-a-Million in Dickson City, customers think "1984" and modern-day America aren't very far apart.

"I think we’re living in the premise of the book and the movie of '1984,'" said Edward Lowe of Clarks Summit.

"It’s pretty much coming true what was prophesied in the book. Big Brother is watching us, I believe," said David Marzolino of Scranton.

And when it comes to dystopian fiction, Borthwick is certain Orwell's "1984" should serve as a warning.

"They’re saying, 'Look, if we don’t change it up, this is going to happen.'"

People who've read it say there are plenty of other similarities to "1984" and what we're experiencing now.

The Lackawanna County Public Library system has numerous copies of "1984."

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