[PIF]

In the end, however, the authorities relented and allowed him to go free. It was a nice spring day. Rubashov was thrilled as his former antagonist led him to the basement exit. He could see the trees in bloom through a small barred window. He never heard the shot.

[Dan in Wichita]

I was forced to read "Darkness at Noon" in my English class as a high school senior 1976-77. It obviously made an impact on me as I still remember it to this day. Back then, public schools warned about the dangers of totalitarianism. Everyone had to read books like 1984, Animal Farm, Darkness at Noon, etc.

I doubt it very much students these days read any of these books in their schools. They are fed lessons from the Communist Manifesto or Rules for Radicals, while being taught white Christian heterosexual males are evil and unworthy of rights or human dignity.