Anthem

by Ayn Rand

Overview

Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England.
It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age characterized by irrationality, collectivism, communal living, and the eradication of family and self awareness.
A person’s life work is chosen for them and procreation is a scheduled, unemotional event only intended to replace workers who have died.
To do or think anything other than directed is a crime. To seek to be alone is a crime. To want anything for oneself is a crime.
Choice is a crime.
Technological advancement is now carefully planned, if allowed to occur at all after decades of debate.
The entire human concept of individuality has been eliminated, a time where only the use of the words ‘we’ or ‘us’ replace ‘I’ and ‘me.’ To dare think let alone utter ideas of individualism is punishable by death.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940149365401
Publisher:	Two-Gunner Pulp Press
Publication date:	03/18/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	100 KB

About the Author

Ayn Rand, born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum; February 2 1905 – March 6, 1982, was an American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, Rand moved to the United States in 1926. She had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful in America, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel, The Fountainhead.

In 1957, she published her best-known work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines and releasing several collections of essays until her death in 1982. Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected ethical altruism. In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral and opposed collectivism and statism as well as anarchism, instead supporting a minarchist limited government and laissez-faire capitalism, which she believed to be the only social system that protected individual rights. In art, Rand promoted romantic realism. She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, except for some Aristotelians and classical liberals.

Date of Birth:

February 2, 1905

Date of Death:

March 6, 1982

Place of Birth:

St. Petersburg, Russia

Place of Death:

New York, New York

Education:

Graduated with highest honors in history from the University of Petrograd, 1924