Ayn Rand is one of the most controversial authors and philosophers of the twentieth century. Throughout her novels and lectures, Rand introduces her audience to her philosophy, objectivism. Objectivism encourages people to be selfish and live a better life. To achieve this, you should do whatever you want, but without creating victims. To Rand, selfishness means to work hard, earn self-esteem, pursue your happiness, and grow by treating others with the same value.Written in 1937, Rand intended to use Anthem as a critique of ...
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Ayn Rand is one of the most controversial authors and philosophers of the twentieth century. Throughout her novels and lectures, Rand introduces her audience to her philosophy, objectivism. Objectivism encourages people to be selfish and live a better life. To achieve this, you should do whatever you want, but without creating victims. To Rand, selfishness means to work hard, earn self-esteem, pursue your happiness, and grow by treating others with the same value.Written in 1937, Rand intended to use Anthem as a critique of collectivism, the philosophy that individuals exist only to contribute to the well-being of society. In the novel, individualism has been erased and now the world is crumbling. The story takes place at an unspecified future date when mankind has entered another Dark Age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated. A young man known as Equality 7-2521 rebels by doing secret scientific research. When his activity is discovered, he flees into the wilderness with the girl he loves. Together they plan to establish a new society based on rediscovered individualism.
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Add this copy of Anthem to cart. $37.36, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Independently published.
I bought this with Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, on a whim. It was a pleasant surprise! A nice jewell of a book. An easy read, really different than anything I've read before.
PubliusMinor
Jul 10, 2008
1984 Light?
I didn't know what to expect of Ayn Rand. When I was young, her books were considered rather risque. Today I see them mentioned in libertarian blogs. I decided to see what they were all about, and ordered every title I could find. Anthem is a short work of speculative fiction set in a post-Apocalyptic world. Rand, who left the Soviet Union as a young woman, had experienced the sacrifice of the individual to the collective will at first hand. An easy read reminiscent of the Star Trek episode about Landru and of Soylent Green -- or perhaps I should say that they are reminiscent of Anthem, since Anthem was published in 1938.
taekwondoqueen
Jun 10, 2007
Anthem: The Power of Ego
They exist only to serve the greater good. From bundle to ashes their whole lives are controlled, from the Palace of Mating to the Home of the Useless. There is no individual ?I? only the great ?WE?. In her 3rd novel, Ayn Rand fills Anthem to the brim with enough oppression and forced cohesion to your fellow comrade to start another USSR. After a devastation that destroys most of humanity, Equality 7-2521, just one man in the great ?WE?, is sent to work as a Street Sweeper. He is unlike his brothers. Equality 7-2521 is different, a despicable crime in this world of the possible future. But Equality 7-2521 goes about his day, endeavoring to be like his role-model Union 5-3992, a boy with half a brain. As Equality 7-2521 thoroughly sweeps his assigned portion of a street, he stumbles upon ??an old iron grill over a black hole?, within this aperture are remains of the Unmentionable Times. Here Equality 7-2521 learns things of science with a child-like curiosity, all leading up to his discovery of electricity. However without his noticing, he discovered another force, the blasphemy of individuality. In this The Island-like adventure, Equality 7-2521, like Lincoln Six-Echo, falls for Liberty 5-3000, or the Golden One as she will become known. In this late teenage rebellion of sorts, Equality 7-2521 decides to leave, after the Council of Scholars rejects his discovery of electricity, and takes his ?dearest one?? with him. In the forest they discover a home that had survived the Unmentionable Times and that is where they relearn the lost skills of men. With adventure, drama, and challenging philosophy, this novel is for the philosophical reader, the advanced reader or a person just looking for a rousing read. As Ayn Rand delivers another powerful, magnificent novel, she proves the power of ?the word which will not die? which can never die on this earth?? the word from which ego springs.
