In a dateless future, the State has eliminated poverty and crime and brought the happiness of conformity to its citizens. All members of the State are equal in every way and all their interests are in line with those of the ?benevolent state?. There is no dissension amongst the citizens as it is rooted out upon discovery by a system of surveillance, subtle forms of re-education and, if necessary, brainwashing. Professor Burden believes he is a loyal citizen, but the Department of Internal Examination discovers that he harbours unconscious doubts?that he thinks he may be smarter than others, that he may have talents that others do not possess?and brands him a heretic. He is held captive and receives the State's routine treatment for his allegedly deviant behaviour; his identity must be obliterated in order for him to be "saved". The novel describes the various stages and methods of his re-education process, and focuses on the reactions of the tortured, but more interestingly looks at the thoughts and considerations of his torturers. AUTHOR David Karp (1922-1999) was a novelist and television writer. As a young man he was employed in various jobs and joined the army in 1942, serving in the Signal Corps in the Philippines and Japan. He started his career in the media as a continuity writer for a New York radio station and published his first noel in 1952, preferring to tackle controversial topics. *
