Anthem: 50th Anniversary Edition - Softcover

Rand, Ayn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451191137 ISBN 13: 9780451191137

Publisher: Penguin, 1996

Synopsis

Anthem is Ayn Rand's classic tale of a dystopian future of the great "We"--a world that deprives individuals of a name or independence--that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

They existed only to serve the state. They were conceived in controlled Palaces of Mating. They died in the Home of the Useless. From cradle to grave, the crowd was one--the great WE.

In all that was left of humanity there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word--I.

"I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities."--Ayn Rand

About this title

Review:

A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly. ("The New York Times")

From the Back Cover:

In this classic novel that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values.

Equality 7-2521 lives in the Dark Ages of the future, where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, all traces of individualism have been wiped out. But the spark of individual thought and freedom still burns in Equality 7-2521, a passion which he has been taught to call sinful. In a purely egalitarian world, he dares to stand forth from the herd -- to think and choose for himself, to discover electricity, and to love the woman of his choice. Now he has been marked for death for committing the ultimate sin: in a world where the great "we" reign supreme, he has rediscovered the lost and holy word "I".

This provocative book is an anthem sung in praise of man's ego.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0451191137
• ISBN 13: 9780451191137
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 272