Written in 1937, Anthem was published in England after being refused publication in America. It was finally published in 1946 by Pamphleteers, Inc. In 1950, it was published in Famous Fantastic Mysteries as a Science-Fantasy story. Anthem tells the story of a man who rediscovers individualism and the personal pronoun "I" in a world where enslaved people have been subjugated to a useless existence purely for the benefit of the "State Collective." They are no longer citizens--they are property of the Collective. Thoughts or actions considered to be against "the common good" are punished by lashings. The world has lost all of the achievements of science and civilization and has reverted to primitive cruelty where only candles are allowed for light. Equality 7-2521 endures danger, denunciation, imprisonment, and torture, but he breaks free of the Collective's shackles, with the woman he loves, to start a new life in an uncharted wilderness, promising to recreate a world in which each man will be free to exist for his own sake. This museum quality collectible volume has been edited to a form more relational to an epic poem as befits the story and Ayn Rand's concept of it. It is a book meant to be kept and read many times. It is a perfect addition to the library of any rational and thinking individual.