Fahrenheit 451 is a foundational work of 20th-century American science fiction, notable for its influence on both the genre and its many readers. It has also proven to be one of the most frequently challenged and banned books in American public schools—despite being about the dangers of censorship.
The novel uses a familiar dystopia structure—an insider realizes that his world is seriously wrong, and tries to fix it—to explore the consequences of political suppression and lazy citizenship. It is not far-out science fiction with aliens or unlikely science—in fact, the technology in the novel was emerging when Bradbury was writing, and it is quite accessible today. Instead, we call it...
