“1984” book sales have dramatically increased since reports emerged last week that the National Security Agency (NSA) had engaged in the surveillance of millions of Americans’ phone records.
Published by George Orwell in 1949, “1984” is considered the dystopian classic, describing a world that is overseen by a totalitarian dictatorship under “Big Brother.”
The Amazon’s Movers & Shakers page shows that several editions of the Orwell book have dramatically increased, reported The Huffington Post. Sales of the Centennial Edition of the book increased more than 4,000 percent since last week and is currently ranked fifth on the list.
Sales of “Animal Farm,” another book of Orwell’s, increased by 250 percent.
However, as some media reports note, the sale increase also coincides with the 64th anniversary of the book’s publication, which was Saturday.
Liz Keenan, who heads the publicity department for Plume publishing--which published “1984”--told ABC News that sales of the book increase as teachers and students buy it for summer reading.
However, she added that sales of the book have never increased so dramatically.
“Without a doubt, this has a lot to do with surveillance coverage,” she told the network.
