Dorian Lynskey attempts to explain “what Orwell’s book actually is, how it came to be written, and how it has shaped the world” in "The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell’s 1984."
In his book, "Religion in the University," a reworking of a series of lectures given at Yale in 2001, Nicholas Wolterstorff examines a range of assumptions held by academics.