During the first week of revelations concerning the National Security Agency’s “Prism” program, George Orwell became red hot.

Or, more precisely, reading (or at least possessing) Orwell’s 1984 became red hot. Sales of the classic shot up 7000% on Amazon within days of the first reports about the new and ominous shape of our surveillance culture.

Orwell’s sudden popularity comes at a cost to the author’s legacy. Reading 1984 and Animal Farm provides only a simplistic introduction to a complex thinker. Moreover, his writing and action in the midst of internecine struggles on the Left have made his legacy difficult to understand without a close analysis of both his life and works.