Michael Sheldon

As the story of the National Security Agency secret surveillance program exploded, sales of George Orwell’s “1984” - about a totalitarian state and government monitoring - have shot up on online book seller Amazon.

One description of the book says, “‘Thought Police.’ ‘Big Brother.’ ‘Orwellian’ - these words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, 1984.