Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

   This short novel published in 1953 is prescient in its portrayal of fear and paranoia, markedly influenced by the Cold War and McCarthyism. This is a predictive story, of a future where firemen set fires (and thus destroy books) rather than prevent fires. Why are books hated and feared? Can knowledge in the form of forbidden literature be saved? This is a powerful Orwellian look at a dystopian future that has uncomfortable parallels with our current world.