Anthem.

Ayn Rand. 1938/2002. Read by Paul Meier. 2 tapes. 2.5 hrs. HighBridge Audio. 1-56511-547-3. $18.95. Cardboard; content, author, reader notes. SA

A man with a label and number rather than a name, Equality 7-2521, toils as a street sweeper in a future city where a regimented form of governance has held sway for centuries. The collective "we" has supplanted the individualistic "I," and all ideas not held universally are suspect. In this setting, reminiscent of the brand of communism that was digging in its heels in Russia as the book was written and published, our hero closets himself in a cave, writes, and reinvents electricity. He runs into the wilderness with a like-minded woman, and they reclaim their identity as individuals. Rand's social and economic ideas have a large following, and many listeners will welcome this summary of the ideas developed more completely in her larger novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Listeners who seek another take on Orwellian societies will also appreciate it. Meier's voice is dramatic and forceful; more than an interpreter of the text, he comes across as a proponent of Rand's ideas. Edna M. Boardman, Bismark, ND