Trump's election sends dystopian book sales soaring. Again.
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President-elect Trump's return to the White House sent books about totalitarianism, tyranny and dystopia soaring off the shelves with titles by Margaret Atwood and George Orwell climbing Amazon's rankings.
Why it matters: The same phenomenon occurred after Trump was elected president in 2016, as the prospect of his presidency sparked fears of authoritarian rule and anti-abortion policies.
- Trump, who has been termed a fascist by his own former chief of staff, vowed on the campaign trail to be a "dictator" on "day one."
State of play: Margaret Atwood's novel, "The Handmaid's Tale," was the number two slot on Amazon's best sellers list Friday.
- That's up from #3 on Thursday and #209 ahead of the election.
- After Trump's win, sales shot up 6,866%, CNN reported.
- Atwood's novel is set in a dystopian, patriarchal future where women have lost bodily autonomy and are forced to bear children for elites.
- The themes have resonated since overturning of Roe v. Wade, which has affected maternal health and mortality rates.
The latest: Other dystopian classics on Amazon's best seller list Friday included historian Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny" (#8), George Orwell's "1984" (#14) and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" (#16), all of which also shot up the list in the wake of Trump's victory.
Flashback: Atwood's publicist told NPR in Feb. 2017 that "The Handmaid's Tale" had seen a more than 200% increase in sales after Trump's election months prior.
- "1984" was also in Amazon's top 10 best seller list in Jan. 2017, after then-Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway went viral after discussing "alternative facts," the Guardian reported.
Yes, but: Amazon's top seller was Melania Trump's memoir and Vice President-elect JD Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" was #6 while Robert F. Kennedy Jr's book "Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health" was #9.
Go deeper: One place where Trump still wins
