Anthem

Anthem
by Ayn Rand

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Book Summary Information

Author: Ayn Rand
Narrator: Christopher Lane
Edition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Unabridged
Published: 2004-11-01
ISBN: 0786129212
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks

Book Reviews of Anthem

Book Review: We Are Lemmings Being Led By the Least of Us
Summary: 5 Stars

I read this book for a graduate class in political philosophy.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982), in this book written in 1937, expertly refutes collectivists schemes; such as, Communism and Fascism and shows the utter peril that collectivism poses to individual freedom. One of my favorite historians, Lord Acton, warned us in the 19th century "that socialism is slavery."

This is a short novel about a man who escapes a society from which all individuality has been squeezed. Written a full decade before Orwell's "1984" Rand expertly shows how collectivism is destroying individuality and is being practiced throughout the world including the "New Deal" programs in the United States. During this time in world, history people are becoming serfs to the state as F. A. Hayek, the noted libertarian economist would put it. Rand's philosophy is really quite simple; planning is a synonym for "collectivism" and "collectivism" is a metaphor for Communism. Rand's literary style is easy to read and understand, I love how she uses the third person plural in the book until the hero finds his "ego" at which time she switches over to first person singular. This is a book that should be read by all who wonder what role the government should have in our lives.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy.

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Summary of Anthem

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. Ayn Rand?s classic tale of a future dark age of the great ?We,? in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values, anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

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