Anthem: AOG Annotated Edition

By: Ayn Rand

Narrated by: C.J. McAllister

As today’s society edges closer and closer to full-fledged collectivism; as the rights and dignity of the individual continue to be trampled underfoot in the name of “the collective good;” as more and more people refuse to study the history and logical conclusions of their beliefs, and claim that re-branding socialism wipes away its entire shameful and often bloody history, while simultaneously refusing to believe the massive amount of evidence of that history - the work of Ayn Rand is more crucial and relevant than ever.

Unlike some of Rand’s massive other productions, Anthem is a succinct work that compresses an incredible amount of wisdom into a remarkably slim volume. This AOG edition contains the complete, unabridged narration of Anthem, along with supplemental discussion materials after each section.

©2019 James C. Barnes (P)2019 James C. Barnes

Great narration

Great narration, talented voice artist. Unfortunately, Rand’s worst novel. She is slapping you across the face with every page, making sure you got her very direct ideas. This is a novel written in ALL CAPS. The annotations or “questions to discuss” section at the end of every chapter was distracting and pointless.

A Post-Apocolypse Classic

I first read this story back in high school and it was probably the first significant influence in setting me on a lifetime love affair with science fiction. Coming back to it now, nearly 50 years later, I suspect I missed a lot of what was really going on under the surface of what is a pretty simple and very common S.F. trope about controlling the masses by keeping them contained and too frightened of the "outside" to even consider the possibilities.
Anthem is about a whole lot more than that trope. It is an Anthem for the individualist, quick to point out the innate evils of "we" based communalism. It's a story that was controversial at the time and probably even more so in today's inclusive, politically correct world, but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey back.
This version contains talking points and classroom questions at the end of each part of the story. They provided very interesting food for thought and an opportunity to completely rethink the story I thought I remembered.
An S.F. classic that is well worth the read.

Anthem:AOG

This was a good dystopian short book.Everyone is the same in this world.No one thinks for themselves,the government does it for them.A faction discovers something that not everyone knows of,so it does not officially exist.C.J. McAllister does a nice job narrating and asking questions after each chapter.“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher

It was okay

If you're a fan of Ayn Rand, you''ll probably eat this one up, but there was too much of a straw man argument for my liking. That being said, it was well read, and the story in itself wasn't bad.

Great Read

Anthem: AOG Annotated Edition was a great read by Ayn Rand. This edition of Anthem contains the complete narration of Anthem as well as discussion materials after each section. It is a great look into a future where people have no name, no value aand no independence. This was a great look into what could possibly be of the future.