When it first appeared in France, Anti-Oedipus was hailed as a masterpiece by some and "a work of heretical
madness" by others. In it, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari set forth the following theory: Western
society's innate herd instinct has allowed the government, the media, and even the principles of economics to take
advantage of each person's unwillingness to be cut off from the group. What's more, those who suffer from mental
disorders may not be insane, but could be individuals in the purest sense, because they are by nature isolated
from society. More than twenty-five years after its original publication, Anti-Oedipus still stands as a controversial
contribution to a much-needed dialogue on the nature of free thinking.