2004
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Audience:
Adult
Moving between dreams, memories, and sharply emblematic moments, When the Emperor Was Divine reveals the dark underside of a period in American history that, until now, has been left largely unexplored in American fiction.
About the Author
A veteran sci-fi author with side talents for poetry, plays and screenwriting, Ray Bradbury has had a long career of provoking thought and a compelling uneasiness in generations of readers. He lives in Los Angeles.
SELECTED REVIEWS:
AudioFile
"Bradbury's novel details the eternal war between censorship and freedom of thought and continues to be relevant today more than ever. In Bradbury's future, books are illegal and happily so—citizens are too busy watching their wall-sized televisions and listening to their in-ear 'seashell' radios to care about the loss of good literature. Guy Montag begins the novel as a fireman who enforces the temperature of the title—that at which books burn—but then transforms and tries to show his society the mistake of censorship. It's a treat to hear Bradbury read his own work, almost as if a wise elder were sharing a cautionary tale. Sometimes the slower pace seems awkward for a novel of such action, but overall the reading does justice to the timeless classic."
The Nation
"One of the most brilliant overall jobs of social satire."
The New York Times
"Frightening in its implications...Mr. Bradbury's account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating."