In an age of inescapable surveillance, fake news, alternative facts, would-be Big Brothers and endless low-level wars, Orwell’s warning still speaks to us today, and with greater force than ever before.

As he lay dying, George Orwell summoned his publisher Fred Warburg to his bedside. No longer capable of holding a pen, the writer dictated a message to the public about the world of his new novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ‘Don’t let it happen,’ he concluded. ‘It depends on you.’

In an age of inescapable surveillance, fake news, alternative facts, would-be Big Brothers and endless low-level wars, Orwell’s warning still speaks to us today, and with greater force than ever before. Republished with a new introduction by Dennis Glover, author of The Last Man in Europe, Orwell’s prophetic masterpiece is truly a story for our times. Orwell’s courage and his refusal to be silenced inspire hope that, ultimately, the spirit of humanity will win through.