Portrays a terrifying vision of life in the future when a totalitarian government, considered a "Negative Utopia, " watches over all citizens and directs all activities, becoming more powerful as time goes by.

Winston Smith is a drone in a totalitarian state dominated by the supreme figurehead, Big Brother. Attempting to break out, he has an affair with Julia, a rebellious sensualist, but then has to deal with O'Brien, a powerful tool of the state.

"The world we live in is often described as an Orwellian one, awash in inescapable surveillance and invasions of privacy. On 1984 dives deep into Orwell's life to chart his earlier writings and key moments in his youth, such as his years at a boarding school, whose strict and charismatic headmaster shaped the idea of Big Brother. Taylor tells the story of the writing of the book, taking readers to the Scottish island of Jura, where Orwell, newly famous...