Explosion in sales of dystopian novels in the USA

The result of the American presidential election has shaken up the best seller lists. It’s a real rush for books that deal with democracy, tyranny, feminism or even the far right. ONE literary genre dominates the bestsellers: dystopia, these nightmarish visions of a dark and hopeless world.

Case study: “The Scarlet Maid” by Margaret Atwood and which describes, as you know, a totalitarian society where women are forced to reproduce has jumped to 3rd place in the best seller rankings on Amazon.

Another example, “On Tyranny”, which presents itself as a guide to resistance to Trumpism, is a hit. The book gained hundreds of places yesterday alone and this morning it appeared in the top 10 on Amazon.

And then, the dystopia par excellence, which fascinates readers, is of course “1984” by George Orwell

Where does this fascination of American readers with these end-of-the-world stories come from? Commercial successes whose meaning is eminently political explains the Guardian.

But THE best seller which remains firmly established in first place, that of the First Lady, Melania Trump.

I leave the conclusion to Margaret Atwood – her last post on X is not to rejoice in its sales, on the contrary: “Despair is never the solution”. “He never helped anyone.”