Essay. Gordon Zahn explores Freedom and Reason in the twentieth century, a century marked by manipulation, coercion and warping of human freedom and reason. From Communist China to Jim Jones to Nazi tyranny the application of reason to formulate choices has been glossed over through careful chemical and psychological behavior modification techniques. Freedom, according to C. Wright Mills, is "first of all, the chance to formulate all available choices, to argue over them and then the opportunity to choose." In shades similar to the novel Brave New World, freedom and reason have been stripped away, warping many individuals into "cheerful robots." Zahn explores the case of Franz Jaegerstaetter, an Austrian Catholic peasant who refused to serve in the German army in WWII. He consulted priests who told him to serve, that it was his duty as a citizen, that he had a wife and three daughters and refusing to serve meant death. Remembering a priest who had been executed for refusing to take an oath to support Hitler, and applying his Catholic values and beliefs Jaegerstaetter bucked the system refusing adhere to Nazi orders. A decision that cost him his life.