Photo Courtesy of Unsplash, Mari Potter
The 2024 election saw major wins for the Republican party, with Donald Trump once again set to take office as president at the beginning of 2025. He is seeing a lot of pushback with his proposed policies on abortion and the increased government control outlined in Project 2025, which can be seen in the surges in book sales in the days following the election.
In the few days following the election, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood saw a 6,866 percent spike in sales, ranking as one of the top-selling books on multiple platforms in recent weeks.
The Handmaid’s Tale covers intense themes, exploring access to reproductive rights in a future dystopian version of America in which the patriarchy rules and media are highly censored. Many of the messages in Atwood’s novel are prevalent today, as she advocates for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, which the Trump administration looks to control.
Other books with strong feminist viewpoints are selling at higher rates as well, with Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me and Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates climbing quickly on best-seller lists in the span of a few days.
These surges in feminist book sales highlight the anger many women across the country feel with Republicans’ views on abortion rights. While Trump has said he would not impose a federal abortion ban, he is responsible for installing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to impose abortion bans across the country.
These policies are disheartening to women across the country, making them feel as if they lack the right to their bodies. It is no surprise that books that tackle topics like feminism and reproductive rights are becoming more popular, as they are incredibly applicable to United States politics.
Books with similar dystopian themes have also seen skyrocketing sales in the days following Trump’s victory. George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 have also been selling quickly, with readers looking to explore dystopia and far-right politics after the election results were announced.
While these books are not written with feminist perspectives, they do portray totalitarian governments and dystopian societies similar to the one seen in The Handmaid's Tale. The oppression seen in these books highlights the fear many Americans have heading into another Trump presidency.
Both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 cover topics like intense government control, surveillance, and censorship, which are issues that many people fear we will see under Trump’s presidency based on the policies highlighted in Project 2025.
Apart from showing American’s discomfort with many of Trump’s proposed policies, these book sales also highlight people’s discontent with Republican-led book bans and the limits they impose on our education system.
Many of the books listed above appear on book ban lists across the country, however, people recognize the importance of these pieces of literature and are showing the need for these books in our society by boosting their sales.
The recent spike in popularity surrounding these banned novels is important in seeing how the American people want our country to be run, showing how abortion, feminism, and freedom of expression are important ideals people hope will be protected under the new administration.
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