Anthem takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age. Technological advancement is now carefully planned and the concept of individuality has been eliminated where instead of names people are called by numbers and always use pronouns like we, us, they. In such a controlling society can mankind ever find its own individuality again? Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in England.