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Re-elected US President Donald Trump during a campaign event at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, Friday, November 1, 2024.
UNITED STATES – An American nightmare. The election of Donald Trump helped revive the sale of dystopian stories. Since the announcement of the results on Wednesday, the book “The Scarlet Handmaiden”is on Amazon's best sellers list, reports the AP News agency this Thursday, November 7. This novel, published in 1985 by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, was also very popular during Donald Trump's first term.
“The Scarlet Handmaiden” immerses the reader in a dystopian future where the United States has given way to “Gilead”, a totalitarian theocratic regime. In this society, women's rights have been suppressed in favor of absolute control, while fertility has become a rare commodity. Women who are still fertile are reduced to the status of scarlet servants, breeders forced to give birth to the children of the ruling elites.
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Other dark futuristic tales such as « 1984 » by George Orwell and « Fahrenheit 451 » by Ray Bradbury were also in Amazon's top 40 sales charts as of Thursday afternoon. The book “On tyranny: twenty lessons from the 20th century” by Timothy Snyder, historian and specialist in Eastern Europe, is also in the top 10 best-selling books.
“Fascism, feminism, and dystopian worlds”
This observation is verified at Barnes & Noble, one of the main booksellers in the United States, which has observed a sharp increase in sales of these dystopian works. “Fiction and nonfiction books that deal with fascism, feminism, dystopian worlds, and right- and left-wing politics have skyrocketed on our sales charts with the election results”explains to AP News Shannon DeVito, director of books of the chain, who cites in particular “The Scarlet Handmaiden” et « 1984 ».
Pro-Trump books also saw great sales success after the election. With its monochrome cover, « Melania »the memoir of the former first lady, rose to the top spot on Amazon's list, while « Hillbilly Elegy » by JD Vance, vice president-elect, was in the top 10. The photo book « Save America » by Donald Trump ranks in the top 30.
Bob Woodward's latest book, simply titled “War”, which deals with the responses of Trump and Joe Biden to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, has also been widely ordered in bookstores. These sales illustrate the wide range of reactions provoked by the return of Donald Trump to the White House, ranging from support to the most critical reflections on the rise of authoritarian power.
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