We the Living is Rand’s first and least well-known novel. It is the passionate story of a young woman, Kira Argounova, who is solemnly dedicated to living her life. But she is caught in a collectivist dictatorship that declares the individual is nothing and the group, everything—a collectivist state that, in Kira’s words, came and “forbade life to the living.” Set in Soviet Russia at the time of the Communist Revolution, We the Living depicts both the chilling, day-to-day consequences of life under a totalitarian state and the unconquerable human spirit.
This interactive video lecture course is an introduction to Ayn Rand’s We the Living. College and high school students studying the novel will derive much benefit from the material. But these lectures should be of interest to anyone seeking to learn more about the novel, Rand’s ideas, and her critique of communism and collectivism.
Each unit of the course is a self-contained module. Students should feel free to take the whole course in sequence or to peruse the course outline and jump around to sections of interest. Teachers who wish to use the course for classroom instruction are welcome to select the unit or units most relevant to their instructional goals.