An edition of Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Fahrenheit 451

60th Anniversary Edition; 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover edition (4)
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  • 125 Currently reading
  • 579 Have read

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  • 3.95 ·
  • 378 Ratings
  • 2465 Want to read
  • 125 Currently reading
  • 579 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by Lisa
August 20, 2023 | History
An edition of Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Fahrenheit 451

60th Anniversary Edition; 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover edition (4)
  • 3.95 ·
  • 378 Ratings
  • 2465 Want to read
  • 125 Currently reading
  • 579 Have read

Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

This sixtieth-anniversary edition commemorates Ray Bradbury's masterpiece with a new introduction by Neil Gaiman; personal essays on the genesis of the novel by the author; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Nelson Algren. Harold Bloom, Margaret Atwood, and others: rare manuscript pages and sketches from "Ray Bradbury's personal archive and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.
(front flap)

Publish Date
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Language
English
Pages
159

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Previews available in: English Chinese

Edition Availability
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
2013-06, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Trade Paperback in English - Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition (12); 60th Anniversary Edition
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
2013-06, Simon & Schuster
Hardcover in English - 60th Anniversary Edition; 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover edition (4)
Cover of: 华氏451
华氏451
2005, Zhong qing chu ban she
paperback in Chinese
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
2003, Simon & Schuster
hardcover in English
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
1996-08, Del Rey / Random House
paperback in English - 1st trade ed. (20)
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
/1993, Del Rey / Ballantine Books
mass market paperback in English - First edition, second printing (25)
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
/1993, FollettBound
library binding in English - 1991 Second printing (45)
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
1991, Del Rey / Ballantine Books
mass market paperback in English - First edition, second printing
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
1986, Macmillan of Canada
paperback in English
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
1984-06, Del Rey / Ballantine Books
mass market paperback in English - Sixty-first printing
Cover of: Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
1960, Corgi Books
Paperback in English - Corgi edition reprint

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Book Details


Edition Notes

US/CAN

Published in
New York, USA
Copyright Date
2013

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
813/.54
Library of Congress
PS3503.R167 F3 2003, PS3503.R167 F4 2012

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
xvi, 249 pages
Number of pages
159
Dimensions
22 x x centimeters

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL25859954M
ISBN 10
1451673264
ISBN 13
9781451673265
OCLC/WorldCat
966257472, 778451240
Google
HM-Y6zWNkjwC
Goodreads
44588917

Work Description

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, the novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title as "'the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns": the autoignition temperature of paper. The lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.

The novel has been the subject of interpretations focusing on the historical role of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas for change. In a 1956 radio interview, Bradbury said that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 because of his concerns at the time (during the McCarthy era) about the threat of book burning in the United States. In later years, he described the book as a commentary on how mass media reduces interest in reading literature.

In 1954, Fahrenheit 451 won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature and the Commonwealth Club of California Gold Medal. It later won the Prometheus "Hall of Fame" Award in 1984 and a "Retro" Hugo Award, one of a limited number of Best Novel Retro Hugos ever given, in 2004. Bradbury was honored with a Spoken Word Grammy nomination for his 1976 audiobook version.



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Excerpts

It was a pleasure to burn.
added by Lisa.

first sentence

Links outside Open Library

Community Reviews (2)

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 20, 2023 Edited by Lisa Edited without comment.
April 5, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
March 8, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
June 4, 2022 Edited by Lisa move to correct work
November 20, 2015 Created by Jennifer L. Walton Added new book.