About the Authors

 George Orwell

    George Orwell is a pseudonym for Eric Arthur Blair, a novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic born in Motihari, India on June 25, 1903. He is known the best for his dystopian and satirical works of literature, including Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. Though he was an outspoken democratic socialist, Orwell vehemently opposed communism and the totalitarianism that often came with it. This belief of his is the center of his most popular writings and has led to the term "Orwellian" to be adopted by popular culture to describe anything hinting at totalitarianism or tyranny. Many of his neologisms from Nineteen Eighty-Four have made their way into normal, everyday usage such as "Big Brother" and "memory hole." After moving to Shiplake, U.K. when he was young, he stayed in England for the majority of his life, leaving on occasion to police in Burma and soldier in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell died on January 21, 1950, in London, U.K., leaving behind a legacy that has shaped society's view on totalitarianism and led to its extinction.

Ayn Rand

    Ayn Rand (the pseudonym of Alice O'Connor) was born on February 2, 1905, in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire. An author and philosopher, she has written numerous publications regarding her philosophy of objectivism, which is fueled by the idea that life is driven by reason and logic is the only way to acquire any form of knowledge. Her most famous works are her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, in addition to her novella Anthem. A self-proclaimed individualist, Rand opposed collectivism and rejected religion or faith. She died on March 6, 1982, at the age of 77 in New York, U.S.