George Orwell’s riveting 1984 has become a defining narrative of the modern world. Its cultural influence can be seen in some of the most notable creations of the past seventy years, from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale to the television landmark Big Brother, while ideas such as ‘Thought Police’, ‘doublethink’ and ‘newspeak’ are ingrained in our discourse. The Ministry of Truth traces the life of one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is increasingly relevant in this tumultuous age of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’. Dorian Lynskey investigates the influences that came together in the writing of 1984, from Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War and wartime London to his fascination with utopian and dystopian fiction. Lynskey explores the phenomenon that the novel became when it was first published in 1949 and the changing ways in which it has been read since, revealing how history can inform fiction and how fiction in turn can influence history.