(B) Anthem (Ayn Rand, 1938-Europe, 1946-U.S.) Grade: C
Anyone familiar with Ayn Rand's other works such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged will probably find the beginning stages of the great works to come in this book. It's a really short book, something like 90 pages, so it's a quick read. It's a story set in the future (at first it reminded me of 1984). In the future it is communal living and men live in one area and women in another with no interaction except once a year where they are brought together to mate to keep the human race alive. The story is of a man who has no name but is assigned a name, Equality 7-2521. In the past there was a big war and when all was said and done a new society was born. It was the society of 'We'. As in we are a group whom do everything together and all is accomplished through us. There is no such word a 'I' in this future for individualism is removed from society. You are educated until you are 15 years old and then assigned a job (you don't choose your work). Anyway... it's an attack in an extremist view on the danger of group think and the death of self. It's rather basic and if you want a quick intro to Ayn Rand you can read this cause it takes no time at all to breeze through. But if you want great literature than you can buckle down the 700+ page Fountainhead or 1000+ page Atlas Shrugged.

Quick note: It takes time to adjust to how this book is written because since there is no "self" in the book, words like I and me are not in it. So, when somebody might say 'I went to the store', in the book it would read 'We went to the store' even though it's only referring to a single person.