Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Anthem
    Anthem
    Anthem
    Audiobook2 hours

    Anthem

    Written by Ayn Rand

    Narrated by Paul Meier

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Ayn Rand's classic bestseller, Anthem, is the unforgettable tale of a nightmarish totalitarian future-and the ultimate triumph of the individual spirit. First published in 1938, and often compared with Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, this beautifully written story has introduced millions to Rand's provocative worldview.Rand's protagonist, Equality 7-2521, describes a surreal world of faceless, nameless drones who quot;exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State. Amen.quot; Alone, this daring young man defies the will of the ruling councils and discovers the forbidden freedoms that prevailed during the Unmentionable Times. In other words, he finds and celebrates the power of the self. In doing so, he becomes the prototypical Rand hero-a bold risk-taker who shuns conformity and unabashedly embraces egoism.This exciting dramatization features an electrifying performance by veteran actor and former BBC Drama Repertory Company member Paul Meier. It is certain to be the definitive recording of Anthem-and a milestone in audio interpretation of literary classics.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJan 31, 2002
    ISBN9781598872200
    Author

    Ayn Rand

    Ayn Rand (1905–1982) wrote the bestselling novels The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) and founded the philosophy known as objectivism. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Rand taught herself to read at the age of six and soon resolved to become a professional writer. In 1926, she left Communist Russia to pursue a screenwriting career in Hollywood, and she published her first novel ten years later. With her next book, the dystopian novella Anthem (1938), she introduced the theme that she would devote the rest of her life to pursuing: the inevitable triumph of the individual over the collective. 

    More audiobooks from Ayn Rand

    Related to Anthem

    Related audiobooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      “Soonest Mended”

      Sep 6, 2017

      “Soonest Mended”
      3 min read

    • Article

      From Israel, Thoughts On Passover In A Pandemic World Order

      Apr 7, 2020

      This year, the Passover Seder may be a smaller affair, but it offers our writer comfort, and a chance to reflect on the world we hope to reenter.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Dec 1, 2022

      You have to first Sit in the temple gloom In the mahogany chair & despair. The only glimmer In the temple (being the inlaid bits of The Mother-Of-Pearl shells On the tall, more than humanly tall Chair back, for these These too Are the reputed “Tears

      3 min read

    • Article

      My Family, My Science: One girl’s scientific coming of age.

      Mar 3, 2016

      There is nothing in the world more perfect than a slide rule. Its burnished aluminum feels cool against your lips, and if you hold it level to the light you can see God’s most perfect right angle in each of its corners. When you tip it sideways, it g

      20 min read

    • Article

      The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing)

      Jan 27, 2020

      Once, when Zhong Ni was unoccupied, and his disciple Zeng was sitting by in attendance on him, the Master said, “The ancient kings had a perfect virtue and all-embracing rule of conduct, through which they were in accord with all under heaven. By the

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Edge of Bethlehem

      Jul 26, 2021

      The Edge of Bethlehem
      18 min read

    • Article

      Grandmother Mind

      Jun 7, 2022

      Grandmother Mind
      9 min read

    • Article

      Joyas Voladoras

      Dec 2, 2019

      Consider the hummingbird for a long moment. A hummingbird’s heart beats 10 times a second. A hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil eraser. A hummingbird’s heart is a lot of the hummingbird. Joyas voladoras, flying jewels, the first white explor

      4 min read

    • Article

      Al Murray

      Oct 23, 2023

      Al Murray
      5 min read

    • Article

      River Crossing

      Dec 1, 2020

      My wife, my daughter, and I live on the bluff overlooking the river. The river is wide, and it is swarming with crocodiles and hippos. Courtesy of our unique ecosystem, they have developed a taste for each other’s flesh, and some days the banks are t

      29 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      May 1, 2022

      —after Gerrit van Honthorst’s “Samson and Delilah,” c. 1621 They’ve made a monster of me, marring my namefor eternity. I’m not Delilah,but Laila. I loved him. Each night, in bed, after our bodies became one body, he would succumb to sleep, resting hi

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Music Claims You

      Jun 7, 2022

      The Music Claims You
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dream Big, Pray Big!

      May 27, 2020

      Dream Big, Pray Big!
      5 min read

    • Article

      Seas The Day

      Mar 4, 2020

      Seas The Day
      8 min read

    • Article

      Children’s Ground

      Dec 10, 2020

      Children’s Ground
      8 min read

    • Article

      Pam Ayres: ‘I Inherited A Love Of English From My Mother’

      Aug 5, 2023

      It’s important to be yourself in life. Don’t think you have to adapt according to the people or situation you’re in. It’s perfectly all right to be exactly who you are, to like what you like. That’s a lesson it took me a long time to learn. I grew up

      3 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Sep 2, 2021

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Tale Of Two Crises

      Nov 17, 2020

      A Tale Of Two Crises
      5 min read

    • Article

      Poetic Licence

      Nov 21, 2020

      THESE human bodies will never seize to fail us. Their fragility can not be stressed enough. Mosquitoes kill more of us than we see them. We are waging too many wars against mother nature. We can never forget the inevitable death, but it will always b

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Anthem

    4/5

    162 ratings99 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      You're a little transparent, Ayn. Just a little.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Meh narrators voice boring and back ground noise is unneeded

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Highly suggested for anyone -- perhaps should be required for anyone advocating collectivism.
    • 5/5
      Another classic from Rand. My only complaint is that it wasn’t long enough.
    • 2/5
      Anthem is a bit over the top in its portrayal of a communist society, but it's still an entertaining read with a feel-good ending. Ayn Rand is heavy handed about the lack of individualism and the stifling pressure to conform. Luckily, it's a short read and a good dystopian novel.
    • 1/5
      I wanted to like this book. It's quite readable but still awful. I think Ayn Rand is a very interesting character. I'm not an objectivist but I still like Ayn, she just can't write fiction, not at all. I don't mind the 2D characters, it's that the story is so unbelievable. There is quite alot of science in this book and it's clear that Ayn has no idea what she's talking about.
    • 5/5
      I greatly enjoyed this book, it had a great story and a great point to tell and show. It had great discriptions and it was very Interesting and i would have never guessed the ending of the book would happen the way it did.
    • 2/5
      Not quite what I was expecting. Her philosophy loses so much gusto when talked about objectively outside her story writing...
    • 5/5
      I think. I am. I will.

      This book is about rediscovering individualism. It's about a future possibly where people are deprived of names, independence, and values. It is a very short but good read.
    • 4/5
      Even if you don’t agree with Ayn Rand’s politics, I think this is a worthwhile read. It’s really about the importance of individualism and the dangers of collectivism, and the idea that independence can never be eradicated. Not a surprising message from a teenager growing up in Soviet Russia. Despite being born into a society where you are only a cog in the system and must do what you are told because there is no other option, Equality 7-2521 discovers that he has desires and needs that his society can’t fulfill. If you had the desire to learn and create, could you voluntarily turn it off? It took me probably half the book to get comfortable with the words 'we' and 'they' referring to both one person and many, but once you can wrap your brain around that, the book is an easy read.
    • 5/5
      It’s short and rich with fascinating thought experiments, such as how natural rights are eternal and what would it be like to discover them innately. It’s a great dystopian novel and almost prophetic in its warnings about collectivism. Today’s society and new generations would do well to heed this books warnings about a world kn which the individual is not only unimportant, but oppressed. This book ranks up with 1984, though perhaps not in terms of story, but absolutely in terms of philosophy.
    • 2/5
      Pulled this out of an old box of books that belongs to DH. While I can appreciate the concept of individualism, this was a little over the top. I'm also not a fan of her atheistic views.
    • 4/5
      This fable about a man who flees the organic collective society of the "we" and rediscovers individuality may, upon a first reading, seem dated. After all, we live in the shadow of the greatest "Me" generation the world has ever known, right?But there is something alarming and insidious in a world where language is taken away from a people, where students or employees or dissidents are punished for the words they use, where political correctness supersedes meaning. As I recently re-read Rand’s novella, I could not help but think that Equality 7-2521 not only lived in a world bereft of self, but a world bereft of meaning, and I wondered if the path to that world began with the bowdlerization of social and political discourse and ended with the demise of the self.
    • 4/5
      As Rand's shortest fiction work, it's probably the easiest read. I'd recommend it as an introduction to Rand's fiction.
    • 4/5
      If you liked Brave New World and 1984, this is worth a read.
    • 3/5
      Orwellian but much shorter and less wordy.
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing. I have read it at least ten times and I just love it. The society described is so bland and so restrictive, I wouldn't be able to stand it! I think that it's great that Ayn Rand shows her individualistic philosophy through this book. It should be read by everyone.
    • 5/5
      A great short dystopian novel. In this particular edition the original manuscript with hand-written changes and notes takes up the last half of the book. It is always very interesting to see what the editing process.
    • 3/5
      A dark portrait of the future. Rand pushes her agenda by showing an extreme case of individualism versus collectivism. Interesting.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. The premise behind it at first seemed like every other dystopian novel, alternate reality, no individuality...that kind of thing. However, I was very much impressed with the collective "we" used in the novel. I enjoyed the...sameness, that everyone had, and then I enjoyed the process by which Equality learned his individuality. The discovery was enjoyable, the characters were believable..the book overall, though short, is a very satisfying read.
    • 3/5
      Having the freedom of choice is something that people of this country rarely realize is a privilege. Ayn Rand’s descriptions of a futuristic society in which people have no choice in their lives truly puts this privilege of ours into perspective. In her novel Anthem, Rand gives readers a quick but thoughtful glance at life without this free choice. Throughout the novel the reader follows the main characters journey, Equality 7-2521. Right off the bat the reader is thrown into a world in which we find that writing is illegal; being alone itself is breaking the law and the moral code of the world. Equality 7-2521 lives in a world in which not only is personal thought is forbidden, but the idea of the individual is unheard of. The terms ‘we’ and ‘they’ are all Equality 7-2521 know to describe himself and others. A general grouping of people in the “World State” is all they must think of, in one unit, one entity- the brotherhood. In this distant future described, Rand shows the reader a place in which our world has gone from technological advancements to an entire regression in how the world is run; back to the most ancient of times. The world is run by great leaders of the “World State”, and otherwise unquestioned by those who follow its society. There is no daring dream of difference or discovery by any, as far as the reader can tell. That is everyone except Equality 7-2521. His unearthing of enjoyment and pleasure through science and experimenting is what becomes the powerful key to this rapid paced novel.The differences between our world today and that of Rand’s world in the novel are dramatic. With her distant voice in this first person point of view tale, Rand’s model of a future dystopia is something that leaves the reader with goose bumps in the end. With the message of never forgetting to be the unique person that makes us all individuals in this world, and embracing the choice that one has to do so, it is one of the stories that may need to be read twice in order to understand its full picture. Quick but powerful, this novel truly strikes a chord in me to read more of Rand’s work.
    • 3/5
      I like to keep relatively current on young adult fiction and to add to my library of YA fiction so that I can recommend more to my students, but I REALLY just need to realize that there is no place for this genre in my life anymore. Nothing, nothing will compare to 1984, so I'm constantly disappointed. And The Giver covers it all, so all of these different ways of showing the same theme are just unnecessary. I'll just recommend The Giver to young adults, and the Uglies & Matched trilogies to girls who want another, especially one with a bit more romance and action, and 1984 to adults (you can skip Brave New World, in my opinion) and this one is just.....eh. However, there's the potential to win an essay contest if a student reads this one and wants to write about it, so some of my students will still want to read Anthem (Honors, only, I expect). It was "good." That's it.
    • 3/5
      Bland, flat, simplistic, primitive account of dystopian government and the conflict between individual vs. the collective. Read Huxley or Orwell instead.
    • 3/5
      It was just OK for me. After Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged it was a bit of a disappointment. Orwell did this better.
    • 2/5
      For years I have been meaning to read this book and I finally did over the summer. After I was done with it, I wondered why I hadn’t read this book in the first place. I blamed it on the fact that I tend to be more of a fantasy reader than a science fiction reader. However, I am now finding a place in my heart for this genre.I was pretty disturbed by this book. Not only was the government in this book “recruiting” young geniuses to fight their wars for them, but they were turning it into a game. Since every training exercise was a game many of the children would forget the fact they were training for war, which gave me the creeps. War, in this future world, is a game to the people who are being forced to fight it.This book really made me think about the prevalence of war based video games today. Now, I’m not against these games but I did find it interesting to compare what these children were doing during training to what my friends do in their own living rooms. There were some eerie similarities between the two, like the planning and strategy that sometimes goes in to playing them.While there were some parts that were a little slow, the book was totally worth the read. It really makes the reader look more critically at how our society views war today and even video games. I give this book a 4/5 and I recommend it to most everyone. This book is proof that the science fiction genre can have literary value despite what critics of the genre may say.
    • 5/5
      I am a huge Ayn Rand fan and this book is the reason why. As a teen first reading this, I found it to be inspirational and affirming.
    • 2/5
      I read this book because my daughter will be reading it in school and I wanted to see what it was about. For a dystopian novel, it does not come anywhere close to the power of Orwell's 1984. The last 20 pages or so are especially insipid with the author's rants about individual liberty.
    • 3/5
      This is not my favorite Ayn Rand book. I read it first because it was her shortest. Bad idea.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable read and brief introduction to Ayn Rand's philosophy. While Rand tends to take her ideas to the extreme in her books, it's frightening looking at the world around us and seeing those in power slowly leading us down that path that if taken to a final conclusion could be the cause of Rand's world. Simple read, much easier to get into than her opus, Atlas Shrugged (which is necessary reading in it's own right)
    • 2/5
      If you're looking for something from Ayn Rand that's a tad bit shorter than "Atlas Shrugged," but can still show you her philosophy in a nutshell, "Anthem," her novella set in a dystopian world of the future, may be worth the effort. It didn't take me more than a sitting and a half to flip through it.

      Objectivism: an extreme philosophy that is to the free market what communism is to liberalism, just in the opposite direction. Instead of glorifying collective action, it glorifies the individual, the ego, denigrating all else–love, charity, God, and any kind of shared effort or brotherhood. I’m all about independence, freedom, and self-reliance, but Rand sees no need for sacrifice, charity, or love, even when no coercion is present.

      This last one, love, is perhaps the most difficult piece for her to handle, and she so clumsily. Quite ironically, he only female character, rather than typifying the EGO she emblazons on the last page of the novella, does not exist in her sole woman character, but to give and to serve her male counterpart, Equality 7-2521, our narrator and protagonist. He sees her, and finding no specific qualities but that she returns his affection (a play on the elementary school “eye game” where shy children flirt only by taking turns catching each other’s eyes). From there on, she seems only to live to serve. She gives him water when he thirsts, follows him into the Uncharted Forest when he flees the City, becomes his lover, and tells him that she loves him. In return he names her Gaea, an interesting play on the Greek goddess of the Earth who was mother to other gods and goddesses. In other words, her highest purpose, still, is only to give birth. In contrast, Equality 7-2521 renames himself Prometheus after he who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man, a play on his role in discovering, or rediscovering, electricity. We see a contrast in their roles as Prometheus represents power, gives names to himself and her, and pronounces the dawn of a new age, an age in which EGO rules, not “brotherhood” or the smothering power of “we.”

      And Gaea, the once named Liberty 5-3000, will be the mother of that new empire, quite literally.

      I don’t mean to denigrate the role of women in bringing children into the world. No man can fully repay the debt he owes his mother, or the mother of his children, for bringing him and future generations to this world. However, women’s purpose and gifts and abilities do not end, or begin, with child-birth.

      But I digress. In any respect, Rand places the entire sum of glory on the power of the individual, with no recognition of the powers above or in the shared responsibilities we have to each other. It’s a stark world in which she lives, and I am confident that it is better we live in a world that is neither her’s nor Marx’s,her ideological opposite.

      Never the less, “Anthem” is worth the read, if just for it’s thought provocation and the warning that it gives to the results of too much institutional control and too little individual opportunity for growth.

      View all my reviews