1984 is a novel by George Orwell which was published in the United Kingdom during the summer of 1949, soon after the end of World War 2. It's set in a then-future dystopia where war is never-ending, propaganda is truth, government surveillance is omnipresent, and thinking outside of party ideology is illegal. The story follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of society who secretly opposes the party and its ominous ruler, Big Brother, and finds himself committing open acts of rebellion. 1984 was written as a cautionary tail against totalitarianism, at a time where England was in a period of political and economic instability.