Trump’s victory renews interest in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and other fictional dystopias

NEW YORK (AP) – “The Handmaid’s Tale” is selling again.

Since President-elect Donald Trump made his return to the White House, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic about a country where women are brutally oppressed has topped Amazon.com’s bestseller list. “The Handmaid’s Tale” was popular throughout Trump’s first term, along with such dark futuristic tales as George Orwell’s “1984” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451,” both of which were in Amazon’s top 40 as of Thursday afternoon. Another bestseller from Trump’s earlier time in office, Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” was in the top 10.

Pro-Trump books also sold well. Former First Lady Melania Trump’s memoir, “Melania,” was No. 1 on the Amazon list, and Vice President JD Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” was in the top 10. Donald Trump’s photo book “Save America” ​​was in the top 30.

At Barnes & Noble, “fiction and nonfiction books that feature fascism, feminism, dystopian worlds, and both right- and left-wing politics soared with the election results,” according to Shannon DeVito, the chain’s director of books. . She cited “Melania,” “On Tyranny” and Bob Woodward’s recent “War,” which covers Trump and President Joe Biden’s response to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

DeVito also cited “a massive bump in dystopian fiction,” particularly for “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “1984.”