Celebrate the 40th anniversary of this timeless classic with a special edition featuring a new foreword by the author and a message that is as relevant today as when it was first published.
Since the late 1940s, Ray Bradbury has been revered for his works of science fiction and fantasy. With more than 4 million copies in print, Fahrenheit 451 - originally published in 1953 - remains his most acclaimed work:
"One of the most brilliant overall jobs of social satire."
- The Nation
"Frightening in its implications... Mr. Bradbury's account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating."
- The New York Times
Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper burns. Fahrenheit 451 is a short novel set in the (perhaps near) future when "firemen" burn book forbidden by the totalitarian "brave new world" regime. The hero, according to Mr. Bradbury, is "a book burner who suddenly discovers that books are flash and blood ideas and cry out silently when put to the torch."
Today, when libraries and schools are still "burning" certain books, Fahrenheit 451 is a work of even greater impact and timeliness.
Ray Bradbury has published some 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. For several years he wrote for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone," and in 1953 he coauthored the screenplay for John Huston's Moby Dick. Since 1985, he has adapted his stories for his own half-hour show on USA cable television. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
"What sort of metaphor would be best for the jacket artwork on the original first edition of Fahrenheit 451? I was lucky that Joe Mugnaini came into my life at that moment. Leafing through hundreds of his illustrations, I found a fine pen-and-ink sketch of Don Quixote stranded amongst his mad mythical books. His armor was magazine pages which clothed him in phases and alphabets. 'Take your Don,' I told Joe. 'Plant him on a podium of books, make a few other changes, and set fire to him!' Joe did just that. The result is, I think, one of the best jacket designs of the early fifties."
- Ray Bradbury