'1984' sales soar after 'alternative facts,' Trump claims

NEW YORK (AP) - George Orwell's "1984" has hit No. 1 on Amazon.com following incorrect or unprovable statements made by Republican President Donald Trump and White House aides.

Orwell's classic dystopian tale of a society in which facts are distorted and suppressed in a cloud of "newspeak" was first published in 1949. It topped the Amazon best-seller list Tuesday.

The sales bump comes after the Trump administration's assertions his inauguration had record attendance and his unfounded allegation millions of illegal votes were cast against him last fall.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway coined an instant catchphrase Sunday when she called Trump's claims about crowd size "alternative facts," bringing comparisons on social media to "1984."

Orwell's book isn't the only cautionary tale on the Amazon list. At No. 46 was Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel about the election of an authoritarian president, "It Can't Happen Here."