Fear and loathing and dystopia

So I ran across a cool infographic about dystopian fiction (part of which you can see to the right) and followed it back to a cool blog post by Patrick who blogs for Goodreads. With Hunger Games about to break box-office records he thought it'd be a good time to look at the genre. He notes: 

"Whether it's the result of political turmoil, global financial crises, or other anxieties, readers are craving books about ruthless governments and terrifying worlds. The new breed of dystopian novels combines classic dystopian themes of cruel governments and violent, restrictive worlds with a few new twists—badass heroines and romance."

I think he's right about the craving for these books. We see it a lot at the library and when you look at what's forthcoming in young adult novels there seems to be no end in sight. And what's interesting about the graphic he's created is how the rise and fall of the popularity of dystopian themes ties in to world events.

Neat.