Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury is a seminal dystopian novel that imagines a future society where books are outlawed, and “firemen” burn any that are found. The story follows Guy Montag, a fireman who begins to question his role in suppressing knowledge after meeting his free-thinking neighbor Clarisse McClellan and witnessing a woman choose to die with her books rather than surrender them.
As Montag’s disillusionment grows, he seeks out a clandestine group of intellectuals who preserve literature by memorizing entire works, embodying Bradbury’s warning against censorship, passive entertainment, and the erosion of critical thought. The title refers to the temperature at which paper burns—a symbol of both destruction and the fragile resilience of ideas.
Written during the McCarthy era, Fahrenheit 451 remains a timeless critique of authoritarianism and anti-intellectualism, celebrated for its poetic prose and prescient themes.
For fans of: 1984* (Orwell), Brave New World (Huxley), or The Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood).
