A scathing, chilling dystopian future history where people have no names, only he-numbers and she-numbers, and life is totally regulated under the ever-watchful Well-Doer. Zamiatin's novel is the earliest of the great trinity of political dystopias of the first half of the 20th century, preceding (and heavily influencing) Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984, along with a host of other writers.