We the Living (75th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [Paperback]

Ayn Rand (Author), Leonard Peikoff (Introduction, Afterword)

Book Description

Release date: June 28, 2011

The 75th anniversary of Ayn Rand's powerful and passionate first novel.

In this tensely dramatic story, Ayn Rand shows what the theories of Communism mean in practice.

We the Living is not a story of politics, but of the men and women who have to struggle for existence behind the Red banners and slogans. It is a picture of what dictatorship-of any kind-does to human beings. What happens to the defiant ones? What happens to those who succumb? Who are the winners in this conflict?

Against a vivid panorama of political revolution and personal revolt, Ayn Rand offers an answer that challenges the modern conscience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A colossal love story with a massive philosophical framework. --Miami News --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

AYN RAND (1905-1982) was born in Russia, graduated from the University of Leningrad, and came to the United States in 1926. She published her first novel in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved a spectacular and enduring success and her unique philosophy, objectivism, gained a worldwide following. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade; 75 Anv edition (June 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451233263
• ISBN-13: 978-0451233264
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (207 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, was published in 1936. With the publication of The Fountainhead in 1943, she achieved spectacular and enduring success. Through her novels and nonfiction writings, which express her unique philosophy, Objectivism, Rand maintains a lasting influence on popular thought.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#59 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#6 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#59 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

212 of 229 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely amazing book May 11, 2004

By Bethany

Format:Mass Market Paperback

There are a lot of people who dislike Ayn Rand. Whether for the rather didactic and lengthy sermons that populate most of the plots of her novels, or her own theories which tend to be underdeveloped and difficult to understand, she is not the most popular author or person in the philosophical realm. We the Living, however, is a book that one must read in order to change the perception of Rand doing what she does best: writing fiction.

The novel is a harsh look at communism in the post-Red revolution of Russia, following three people: Kira, a young, idealistic, woman who bourgeois family was left poverty-stricken following the revolt; Leo, an indifferent young man haunted by the Communists due his late father's war glory; and Andrei, a Communist questioning his own beliefs in the system he has risen up in so quickly. Despite the fact that this novel is set in a far-away time and place to most of its readers, it is a book which I felt an extremely strong connection with. Everybody knows a Leo: flippant, handsome, could get any girl he wants -- but he has serious character flaws, and tends to be abusive of Kira's love for him. And Kira, the novel's protagonist, is very similar to any youth of today: she does not understand the ideals of the Communist party, but she does know what she believes and is wholeheartedly committed to fulfilling the promise she had at birth.

The entire novel is beautifully written in moving prose that reflects both the harsh conditions for the people of Russia and the emotions felt between Kira, Andrei, Leo, and others as they attempt to make life better for themselves in a regime that denies them anything good without punishment. The climax of the novel is breathtaking -- by the time the final words have been read, the reader is totally attached to the characters.

As with any other great novel of its time, We the Living not only characterizes the time period it is based in, but its characters live on as people of today's world, in today's capitalistic society. It questions the principles of freedom and what people will do for that freedom. This is Rand's greatest work: the philosophy is subtle, with more emphasis on the plot and the characters, but is there. Whatever you may think of Ayn Rand, you must read this novel -- it is a moving portrait of human life.

93 of 101 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I felt like I was meeting Ayn Rand in person... March 26, 2002

By J. Kane VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Ayn Rand said that "We the Living" was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Maybe that's why when I was reading WTL I got the impression that I was witnessing real scenes from Ayn's past life under the Soviet system. The uncompromising and highly principled behavior of the main character, Kira is inspiring and horrible to witness when you realize what she was up against(communist rule).

Kira is not the superhero type Rand would create so well in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, but she was as close as you could expect to find in Soviet Russia. And unlike Rand's later fiction, WTL has a sad ending... an ending which really drives home the point of how collectivism's ultimate result is death -- death of the mind, death of the individual, and eventually death of everything good in society.

It kept me up nights reading and many more nights pondering what it all meant. A great read!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WE THE LIVING June 4, 2002

By Aaishik Kar

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"We the living" is the lesser known of Ayn Rand's novels, yet my favorite.
I'd say without doubt or hesitation that there is no novel which I have loved as much as this one(and I don't think I'll ever love any other as much as this one, too).
Yes, "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" certainly are greater, but this novel had an emotional impact on me which the others did not - at least not of the same degree.
Though Rand had not fully defined her unique, ground-breaking philosophy of Objectivism at the time she wrote this novel - it proffers her image of life and man which is fully consistent with her more refined novels.

The theme of this novel,strictly speaking,is : "The evil of totalitarianism".
Going deeper, the theme emerges to be : "The sanctity of human life."
Ultimately, this novel dramatizes how totalitarianism violates the sanctity of human life.
But I'd say the fundamental abstraction is : "MAN'S LOVE FOR LIFE, FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS"
And this is what reaches out to every person who reads this emotionally intense novel about a love-triangle involving a woman, an ex-aristocrat and a communist whose lives are destroyed by the system in which they live (in Communist Russia) - for I don't think there is any person in this world,except the most depraved,who doesn't value life,joy and liberty (at least his/her own).

"We The Living" is about the human spirit struggling to preserve its dignity, honor and benevolence - in circumstances which break and pulverize, embitter and malign it.
It is about both,the vulnerability,and the indestructibility of the human spirit.
It is about man being driven by despair, hopelessness and pain to resort to incorrect means so as to achieve good ends.
It is about man's struggle to preserve his values.

It is about love - the kind of love which, unfortunately, I think, is found only in some novels.
It is Kira's love for Leo and Andrei's love for Kira which makes WTL my best-loved novel..."YOU ARE MY HIGHEST REVERENCE"...no other writer and no other novel has given such a profound, beautiful expression to the phenomena of love.
THIS is poetry, passion and man-worship - which makes love sacred, sex an act of worship and man an object worthy of the devotion which is directed at God.

If you want to know what passionate love is, what does one mean by a value-oriented sense of life, what is hero-worship, read "We The Living".

Though this novel lacks the explicit philosophic content of the Rand's other novels & one may think that Kira's actions, strictly speaking, are morally wrong - "We The Living" performs its objective with superb effectiveness : it makes you hate totalitarianism - whether Nazism, Fascism, Communism or the Medieval Church, the broader abstraction remains - that totalitarianism is anti-life - because it takes away man's freedom to think, to choose, to act, to pursue his/ her happiness - on his/her on terms.