Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian (Utopian and dystopian fiction) novel by Ray Bradbury which was first published in a shorter form as "The Fireman" (Galaxy Science Fiction, Vol. 1 No. 5, February 1951).

The short novel presents a future American society in which the masses are hedonistic (hedonism) and critical thought through reading is outlawed. The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman" (which, in this future, means "bookburner (book burning)"). The number "451" refers to the temperature at which book paper combusts. Although sources contemporary with the novels writing gave the temperature as convert450C, Bradbury is believed to have thought "Fahrenheit" made for a better titlepage number; however, in an introduction to the 40th anniversary edition of the novel, Bradbury states that a person he spoke with at the local fire department said "Book-paper catches fire at 451 degrees Fahrenheit". The "firemen" burn them "for the good of humanity". Written in the early years of the Cold War, the novel is a critique of what Bradbury saw as issues in American society of the era.