Nineteen Eighty-Four (also published as 1984) is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell’s ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centres on the consequences of totalitaria- nism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society.Orwell, a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian state in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stali- nism, and Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated.