He lived in the dark ages into the future. Inside a loveless globe he dared to love the girl of his choice. In a day and time that had dropped all track of research and civilization he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had dedicated the unpardonable sin: he had stood forth through the mindless individual herd. He was a man alone.

Ayn Rand’s traditional tale of another dark age group of the fantastic “We,” where individuals have no name, no self-reliance, and no beliefs, anticipates her afterwards masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged

One of Contemporary Library’s 100 Best English-Language Novels from the Twentieth Century.