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    <title>Ayn Rand</title>
    <id>339</id>
    <revision>
      <id>321092918</id>
      <timestamp>2009-10-20T23:13:01Z</timestamp>
      <contributor>
        <username>Phil Spectre</username>
        <id>10649820</id>
      </contributor>
      <comment>
<p>Jefferson was a good call but we have multiple citations for Mencken.  Here's one: tinyurl com ylaqfwf</p></comment>
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<p>{{Infobox Writer}}
<b>Ayn Rand</b> ({{IPA-en}}; born <b>Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum</b>; {{OldStyleDate}} – March 6, 1982), was a <a href="Russian-American" title="Russian-American">Russian-American</a> novelist, philosopher,<sup id="_ref-philosopher_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-philosopher" title="">[1]</a></sup> playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called <a href="Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)" title="Objectivism (Ayn Rand)">Objectivism</a>.
Born and educated in Russia, Rand emigrated to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in <a href="Hollywood" title="Hollywood">Hollywood</a> and had a play produced on <a href="Broadway_theatre" title="Broadway theatre">Broadway</a> in 1935-1936. She first achieved fame with her novel <i><a href="The_Fountainhead" title="The Fountainhead">The Fountainhead</a></i>, published in 1943,<sup id="_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#_note-2" title="">[2]</a></sup> which in 1957 was followed by her best-known work, the philosophical novel <i><a href="Atlas_Shrugged" title="Atlas Shrugged">Atlas Shrugged</a></i>.</p>
<p>Rand's political views, reflected in both her fiction and her theoretical work, emphasize <a href="Individual_rights" title="individual rights">individual rights</a> (including property rights) and <a href="Laissez-faire" title="laissez-faire">laissez-faire</a> capitalism, enforced by a constitutionally-<a href="Limited_government" title="limited government">limited government</a>. She was a fierce opponent of all forms of <a href="Collectivism" title="collectivism">collectivism</a> and <a href="Statism" title="statism">statism</a>,<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#_note-3" title="">[3]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#_note-4" title="">[4]</a></sup> including <a href="Fascism" title="fascism">fascism</a>, <a href="Communism" title="communism">communism</a>, and the <a href="Welfare_state" title="welfare state">welfare state</a>,<sup id="_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#_note-5" title="">[5]</a></sup> and promoted <a href="Ethical_egoism" title="ethical egoism">ethical egoism</a> while condemning <a href="Altruism" title="altruism">altruism</a>.<sup id="_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#_note-6" title="">[6]</a></sup> She considered <a href="Reason" title="reason">reason</a> to be the only means of acquiring <a href="Knowledge" title="knowledge">knowledge</a> and the most important aspect of her philosophy,<sup id="_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#_note-7" title="">[7]</a></sup> stating, "I am not <i>primarily</i> an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not <i>primarily</i> an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows."<sup id="_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#_note-8" title="">[8]</a></sup></p>
<table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents">
<tr>
<td>
<div id="toctitle">
<h2>Contents</h2>
</div>
<ul>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Life_and_work">Life and work</a>
</li>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Early_life">Early life</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Early_fiction">Early fiction</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#The_Fountainhead_and_political_activism">The Fountainhead and political activism</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Atlas_Shrugged_and_later_years">Atlas Shrugged and later years</a>
</li>
</ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Philosophy">Philosophy</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Literary_reception">Literary reception</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Legacy">Legacy</a>
</li>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Popular_interest_and_influence">Popular interest and influence</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Academia">Academia</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Institutes">Institutes</a>
</li>
</ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Notes">Notes</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#References">References</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Further_reading">Further reading</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#External_links">External links</a>
</li>
</ul>
</ul></td></tr></table><hr/>
<a id="Life_and_work" name="Life_and_work"/><h2>Life and work</h2>
<a id="Early_life" name="Early_life"/><h3>Early life</h3>
<p>Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum ({{lang-ru}}) in 1905, into a middle-class family living in <a href="Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a>, <a href="Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a>. She was the eldest of the three daughters (Alisa, Natasha, and Nora) of Zinovy Zacharovich Rosenbaum and Anna Borisovna Rosenbaum, largely non-observant <a href="Jew" title="Jew">Jews</a>. Her father was a <a href="Chemist" title="chemist">chemist</a> and a successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur.<sup id="_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#_note-9" title="">[9]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand was twelve at the time of the <a href="Russian_revolution_of_1917" title="Russian revolution of 1917">Russian revolution of 1917</a>. Opposed to the <a href="Nicholas_II_of_Russia" title="Nicholas II of Russia">Tsar</a>, Rand's sympathies were with <a href="Alexander_Kerensky" title="Alexander Kerensky">Alexander Kerensky</a>. Rand's family life was disrupted by the rise of the <a href="Bolshevik" title="Bolshevik">Bolshevik</a> party. Her father's pharmacy was confiscated by the Soviets, and the family temporarily fled to the <a href="Crimea" title="Crimea">Crimea</a>. At sixteen, Rand returned with her family to Saint Petersburg.<sup id="_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#_note-10" title="">[10]</a></sup>
<a class="internal" href="Image:Twelvecollegia.jpg" title="A black-and-white engraving shows a large building along the bank of a river, with numerous people and carriages nearby"><img src="Twelvecollegia.jpg" alt="A black-and-white engraving shows a large building along the bank of a river, with numerous people and carriages nearby" title="A black-and-white engraving shows a large building along the bank of a river, with numerous people and carriages nearby" class="location-left type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Rand completed a three-year program in the department of social pedagogy at the <a href="Saint_Petersburg_State_University" title="Saint Petersburg State University">University of Petrograd</a>.</div> 
She enrolled at the <a href="Saint_Petersburg_State_University" title="Saint Petersburg State University">University of Petrograd</a>, where she studied in the department of social pedagogy, majoring in history.<sup id="_ref-Sciabarra_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Sciabarra" title="">[11]</a></sup> At university she was introduced to the writings of <a href="Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> and <a href="Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a>, who would form two of the greatest influences and counter-influences respectively on her thought.<sup id="_ref-Sciabarra_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Sciabarra" title="">[11]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#_note-12" title="">[12]</a></sup> A third figure whose philosophical works she studied heavily was <a href="Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>.<sup id="_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#_note-13" title="">[13]</a></sup> Her formal study of philosophy amounted to only a few courses, and outside of these three philosophers, her study of key figures was limited to excerpts and summaries.<sup id="_ref-Sciabarra_1995_p.3D12_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Sciabarra_1995_p.3D12" title="">[14]</a></sup> Of the writers she read at this time, <a href="Victor_Hugo" title="Victor Hugo">Victor Hugo</a>, <a href="Edmond_Rostand" title="Edmond Rostand">Edmond Rostand</a>, <a href="Friedrich_Schiller" title="Friedrich Schiller">Friedrich Schiller</a>, and <a href="Fyodor_Dostoevsky" title="Fyodor Dostoevsky">Fyodor Dostoevsky</a> became her perennial favorites.<sup id="_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#_note-15" title="">[15]</a></sup> As a "non-proletarian," Rand was "purged" from the university shortly before completing. However, bowing to pressure from foreign intellectuals, the communists relented and allowed many of the expelled students to complete their work and graduate,<sup id="_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#_note-16" title="">[16]</a></sup> which Rand did in 1924.<sup id="_ref-Sciabarra_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Sciabarra" title="">[11]</a></sup> She subsequently studied for a year at the State Technicum for Screen Arts.<sup id="_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#_note-17" title="">[17]</a></sup></p>
<p>In late 1925, she was granted a <a href="Visa_(document)" title="Visa (document)">visa</a> to visit American relatives. She arrived in the United States on February 19, 1926,<sup id="_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#_note-18" title="">[18]</a></sup> entering by ship through <a href="New_York_City" title="New York City">New York City</a>. After a brief stay with her relatives in <a href="Chicago" title="Chicago">Chicago</a>, she resolved never to return to the Soviet Union, and set out for <a href="Hollywood" title="Hollywood">Hollywood</a> to become a screenwriter. While still in Russia she had decided her professional surname for writing would be <i>Rand</i>,<sup id="_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#_note-19" title="">[19]</a></sup> possibly as a <a href="Cyrillic" title="Cyrillic">Cyrillic</a> <a href="Contraction_(grammar)" title="contraction (grammar)">contraction</a> of her birth surname,<sup id="_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#_note-20" title="">[20]</a></sup> and she adopted the first name <i>Ayn</i> from a Finnish name.<sup id="_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#_note-21" title="">[21]</a></sup> Initially, she struggled in Hollywood and took odd jobs to pay her basic living expenses. A chance meeting with famed director <a href="Cecil_B._DeMille" title="Cecil B. DeMille">Cecil B. DeMille</a> led to a job as an <a href="Extra_(drama)" title="extra (drama)">extra</a> in his film, <i><a href="The_King_of_Kings" title="The King of Kings">The King of Kings</a>,</i> and to subsequent work as a junior screenwriter.<sup id="_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#_note-22" title="">[22]</a></sup> While working on <i>The King of Kings</i>, she intentionally bumped into an aspiring young actor, Frank O'Connor, who caught her eye. The two married on April 15, 1929. Rand became an <a href="Naturalization" title="Naturalization">American citizen</a> in 1931. Taking various jobs during the 1930s to support her writing, for a time Rand worked as the head of the costume department at <a href="RKO" title="RKO">RKO</a> Studios.<sup id="_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#_note-23" title="">[23]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Early_fiction" name="Early_fiction"/><h3>Early fiction</h3>
<p>{{Main}}
<a class="internal" href="File:Pola_Negri_by_Ayn_Rand_cover.jpg" title="Cover of Rand's first book, a 2,500-word monograph on the Polish femme fatale Pola Negri published in 1925.{{cite journal}}"><img src="Pola_Negri_by_Ayn_Rand_cover.jpg" alt="Cover of Rand's first book, a 2,500-word monograph on the Polish femme fatale Pola Negri published in 1925.{{cite journal}}" title="Cover of Rand's first book, a 2,500-word monograph on the Polish femme fatale Pola Negri published in 1925.{{cite journal}}" class="location-right type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Cover of Rand's first book, a 2,500-word monograph on the Polish <i>femme fatale</i> <a href="Pola_Negri" title="Pola Negri">Pola Negri</a> published in 1925.<sup id="_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#_note-24" title="">[24]</a></sup></div>
Rand's first literary success came with the sale of her screenplay <i><a href="Red_Pawn" title="Red Pawn">Red Pawn</a></i> in 1932 to <a href="Universal_Studios" title="Universal Studios">Universal Studios</a>. <a href="Josef_Von_Sternberg" title="Josef Von Sternberg">Josef Von Sternberg</a> considered it for <a href="Marlene_Dietrich" title="Marlene Dietrich">Marlene Dietrich</a>, but anti-Soviet themes were unpopular at the time, and the project came to nothing.<sup id="_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#_note-25" title="">[25]</a></sup> This was followed by the <a href="Courtroom_drama" title="courtroom drama">courtroom drama</a> <i><a href="Night_of_January_16th" title="Night of January 16th">Night of January 16th</a></i>, first produced in Hollywood in 1934, and then successfully reopened on <a href="Broadway_theater" title="Broadway theater">Broadway</a> in 1935. Each night the "jury" was selected from members of the audience, and one of the two different endings, depending on the jury's "verdict," would then be performed.<sup id="_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#_note-26" title="">[26]</a></sup> In 1941, <a href="Paramount_Pictures" title="Paramount Pictures">Paramount Pictures</a> produced a movie version of the play. She did not participate in the production and was highly critical of the result.<sup id="_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#_note-27" title="">[27]</a></sup></p>
<p>Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical <i><a href="We_the_Living" title="We the Living">We the Living</a></i>, was published in 1936 by <a href="Macmillan_Publishers" title="Macmillan Publishers">Macmillan</a>. Set in Communist Russia, it focused on the struggle between the individual and the state. In the foreword to the novel, Rand stated that <i>We the Living</i> "is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write. It is not an autobiography in the literal, but only in the intellectual sense. The plot is invented, the background is not..."<sup id="_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#_note-28" title="">[28]</a></sup> Without Rand's knowledge or permission, <i>We the Living</i> was made into a pair of films, <i>Noi vivi</i> and <i>Addio, Kira</i> in <a href="Italy" title="Italy">Italy</a> in 1942. Rediscovered in the 1960s, these films were re-edited into a new version which was approved by Rand and re-released as <i>We the Living</i> in 1986.<sup id="_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#_note-29" title="">[29]</a></sup></p>
<p>The novella <i><a href="Anthem_(novella)" title="Anthem (novella)">Anthem</a></i> was published in England in 1938 and in America seven years later. It presents a vision of a <a href="Dystopian" title="dystopian">dystopian</a> future world in which collectivism has triumphed to such an extent that even <a href="Personal_pronoun" title="Personal pronoun">the word "I"</a> has vanished from the language and from humanity's memory.</p>
<a id="The_Fountainhead_and_political_activism" name="The_Fountainhead_and_political_activism"/><h3><i>The Fountainhead</i> and political activism</h3>
<p>{{See also}}
During the 1940s, Rand became involved in political activism. Both she and her husband worked full time in volunteer positions for the 1940 Presidential campaign of Republican <a href="Wendell_Willkie" title="Wendell Willkie">Wendell Willkie</a>. This work led to Rand's first public speaking experiences, including fielding the sometimes hostile questions from the audience "following pro-Willkie newsreels at a Union square movie theater" in <a href="New_York_City" title="New York City">New York City</a>, an experience she greatly enjoyed.<sup id="_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#_note-30" title="">[30]</a></sup> This activity also brought her into contact with other intellectuals sympathetic to free-market capitalism. She became friends with journalist <a href="Henry_Hazlitt" title="Henry Hazlitt">Henry Hazlitt</a> and his wife, and Hazlitt introduced her to the <a href="Austrian_School" title="Austrian School">Austrian School</a> economist <a href="Ludwig_von_Mises" title="Ludwig von Mises">Ludwig von Mises</a>. Both men expressed an admiration for Rand, and despite her philosophical differences with them, Rand strongly endorsed the writings of both men throughout her career.<sup id="_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#_note-31" title="">[31]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand's first major success as a writer came with <i><a href="The_Fountainhead" title="The Fountainhead">The Fountainhead</a></i> in 1943, a romantic drama and philosophical novel that she wrote over a period of seven years.<sup id="_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#_note-32" title="">[32]</a></sup> The novel centers on an uncompromising young <a href="Architect" title="architect">architect</a> named <a href="Howard_Roark" title="Howard Roark">Howard Roark</a>, and his struggle against what Rand described as "second-handers" — those who attempt to live through others, placing others above self. It was rejected by twelve publishers before finally being accepted by the <a href="Bobbs-Merrill_Company" title="Bobbs-Merrill Company">Bobbs-Merrill Company</a> on the insistence of editor Archibald Ogden, who threatened to quit if his employer did not publish it.<sup id="_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#_note-33" title="">[33]</a></sup> <i>The Fountainhead</i> eventually became a worldwide success, bringing Rand fame and financial security. According to the <a href="Ayn_Rand_Institute" title="Ayn Rand Institute">Ayn Rand Institute</a>, by April 2008 the novel had sold over 6.5 million copies.<sup id="_ref-sales_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-sales" title="">[34]</a></sup></p>
<p>In 1943, Rand returned to Hollywood to write the screenplay for a <a href="The_Fountainhead_(film)" title="The Fountainhead (film)">film version</a> of <i>The Fountainhead</i> for <a href="Warner_Brothers" title="Warner Brothers">Warner Brothers</a>, and the following year she and her husband purchased a home designed by modernist <a href="Richard_Neutra" title="Richard Neutra">Richard Neutra</a> and an adjoining ranch. There, Rand entertained figures such as Hazlitt, <a href="Morrie_Ryskind" title="Morrie Ryskind">Morrie Ryskind</a>, <a href="Janet_Gaynor" title="Janet Gaynor">Janet Gaynor</a>, <a href="Gilbert_Adrian" title="Gilbert Adrian">Gilbert Adrian</a> and <a href="Leonard_Read" title="Leonard Read">Leonard Read</a>. Finishing her work on that screenplay, she was hired by producer <a href="Hal_Wallis" title="Hal Wallis">Hal Wallis</a> as a screenwriter and script-doctor, and her work for Wallis included the Oscar-nominated <a href="Love_Letters_(1945_film)" title="Love Letters (1945 film)"><i>Love Letters</i></a> and <i><a href="You_Came_Along" title="You Came Along">You Came Along</a></i>, along with research for a screenplay based on the development of the <a href="Nuclear_Weapon" title="Nuclear Weapon">atomic bomb</a>.<sup id="_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#_note-35" title="">[35]</a></sup> This role gave Rand time to work on other projects, including the publication of her first work of non-fiction, an essay titled "The Only Path to Tomorrow," in the January 1944 edition of <i><a href="Reader's_Digest" title="Reader's Digest">Reader's Digest</a></i> magazine.<sup id="_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="#_note-36" title="">[36]</a></sup> During this period Rand also outlined and took extensive notes for a non-fiction treatment of her philosophy.<sup id="_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="#_note-37" title="">[37]</a></sup></p>
<p>During this period Rand developed a relationship with <a href="Libertarianism" title="libertarianism">libertarian</a> writer <a href="Isabel_Paterson" title="Isabel Paterson">Isabel Paterson</a>. The two women became friends and philosophical sparring-partners, and Rand is reported to have questioned the well-informed Paterson about American history and politics long into the night during their numerous meetings. Later, the two women had a falling out after what Rand saw as Paterson's bitter and insensitive comments during one of her Hollywood parties. Paterson's influence on Rand's later political theories has been a matter of ongoing debate, but Paterson biographer <a href="Stephen_D._Cox" title="Stephen D. Cox">Stephen D. Cox</a> credits Rand's public advocacy with keeping her old friend's political work <i><a href="The_God_of_the_Machine" title="The God of the Machine">The God of the Machine</a></i> in print for many years, despite their previous break.<sup id="_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="#_note-38" title="">[38]</a></sup></p>
<p>{{Wikisource}}
In 1947, during the <a href="Second_Red_Scare" title="Second Red Scare">Second Red Scare</a>, Rand testified as a "friendly witness" before the <a href="United_States" title="United States">United States</a> <a href="House_Un-American_Activities_Committee" title="House Un-American Activities Committee">House Un-American Activities Committee</a>. Her testimony regarded the disparity between her personal experiences in the <a href="Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> and the portrayal of it in the 1944 film <i><a href="Song_of_Russia" title="Song of Russia">Song of Russia</a></i>.<sup id="_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#_note-39" title="">[39]</a></sup> Rand argued that the film grossly misrepresented the socioeconomic conditions in the Soviet Union and portrayed life in the USSR as being much better and happier than it actually was.<sup id="_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="#_note-40" title="">[40]</a></sup> When asked about her feelings on the effectiveness of the investigations after the hearings, Rand described the process as "futile".<sup id="_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#_note-41" title="">[41]</a></sup></p>
<p>The movie version of <i>The Fountainhead</i> was released in 1949. Although it used Rand's screenplay with minimal alterations, she "disliked the movie from beginning to end," complaining about its editing, acting and other elements.<sup id="_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#_note-42" title="">[42]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Atlas_Shrugged_and_later_years" name="Atlas_Shrugged_and_later_years"/><h3><i>Atlas Shrugged</i> and later years</h3>
<p>{{Objectivist movement}}{{Main}}
After the publication of <i>The Fountainhead</i>, Rand received numerous letters from readers, some of whom had been profoundly influenced by the novel. In 1951 Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where she gathered a group of these admirers around her. This group (jokingly designated "The Collective") included future Federal Reserve chairman <a href="Alan_Greenspan" title="Alan Greenspan">Alan Greenspan</a>, a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal (later <a href="Nathaniel_Branden" title="Nathaniel Branden">Nathaniel Branden</a>) and his wife <a href="Barbara_Branden" title="Barbara Branden">Barbara</a>, and Barbara's cousin <a href="Leonard_Peikoff" title="Leonard Peikoff">Leonard Peikoff</a>. At first the group was an informal gathering of friends who met with Rand on weekends at her apartment to discuss philosophy. Later she began allowing them to read the drafts of her new novel, <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>, as the manuscript pages were written. In 1954 Rand's close relationship with the much younger Nathaniel Branden turned into a romantic affair, with the consent of their spouses.<sup id="_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="#_note-43" title="">[43]</a></sup></p>
<p><i>Atlas Shrugged</i>, published in 1957, was Rand's <i>magnum opus</i>.<sup id="_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#_note-44" title="">[44]</a></sup> The theme of the novel is "the role of the mind in man's existence—and, as a corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy: the morality of <a href="Rational_self-interest" title="rational self-interest">rational self-interest</a>."<sup id="_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#_note-45" title="">[45]</a></sup> It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of <a href="Objectivism_(Ayn_Rand)" title="Objectivism (Ayn Rand)">Objectivism</a> and expresses her concept of human achievement. The plot involves a <a href="Dystopia" title="dystopia">dystopian</a> United States in which the most creative industrialists, scientists and artists go on <a href="Strike_action" title="strike action">strike</a> and retreat to a mountainous hideaway where they build an independent free economy. The novel's hero and leader of the strike, <a href="John_Galt" title="John Galt">John Galt</a>, describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the minds of the individuals most contributing to the nation's wealth and achievement. With this fictional strike, Rand intended to illustrate that without the efforts of the rational and productive, the economy would collapse and society would fall apart. The novel includes elements of <a href="Mystery_(fiction)" title="mystery (fiction)">mystery</a> and <a href="Science_fiction" title="science fiction">science fiction</a>,<sup id="_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="#_note-46" title="">[46]</a></sup> and contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction, a lengthy monologue delivered by Galt. <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> became an international bestseller. Rand's last work of fiction, it marked a turning point in her life, ending her career as novelist and beginning her tenure as a popular philosopher.<sup id="_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="#_note-47" title="">[47]</a></sup></p>
<p>In 1958 Nathaniel Branden established Nathaniel Branden Lectures, later incorporated as the <a href="Nathaniel_Branden_Institute" title="Nathaniel Branden Institute">Nathaniel Branden Institute</a> (NBI), to promote Rand's philosophy. Collective members gave lectures for NBI and wrote articles for <a href="Objectivist_periodicals" title="Objectivist periodicals">Objectivist periodicals</a> that she edited. Rand later published some of these articles in book form. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through her non-fiction works and by giving talks, for example at <a href="Yale_University" title="Yale University">Yale University</a>, <a href="Princeton_University" title="Princeton University">Princeton University</a>, <a href="Columbia_University" title="Columbia University">Columbia University</a>,<sup id="_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="#_note-48" title="">[48]</a></sup> <a href="Harvard_University" title="Harvard University">Harvard University</a> and <a href="Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology" title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</a>.<sup id="_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#_note-49" title="">[49]</a></sup> She received an honorary doctorate from <a href="Lewis_%26_Clark_College" title="Lewis &amp; Clark College">Lewis &amp; Clark College</a> in 1963.<sup id="_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="#_note-50" title="">[50]</a></sup> For many years, she gave also an annual lecture at the <a href="Ford_Hall_Forum" title="Ford Hall Forum">Ford Hall Forum</a>, responding afterwards in her famously spirited form to questions from the audience.<sup id="_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="#_note-51" title="">[51]</a></sup> In 1964 Nathaniel Branden began an affair with the young actress Patrecia Scott, whom he later married. Nathaniel and Barbara Branden hid the affair from Rand. Though her romantic relationship with Branden had already ended,<sup id="_ref-52" class="reference"><a href="#_note-52" title="">[52]</a></sup> Rand terminated her relationship with both Brandens in 1968 when she discovered Nathaniel Branden's affair with Patrecia Scott and his and Barbara Branden's role in concealing it, and as a result, NBI closed.<sup id="_ref-53" class="reference"><a href="#_note-53" title="">[53]</a></sup> She published an article in <i>The Objectivist</i> repudiating Nathaniel Branden for dishonesty and other "irrational behavior in his private life."<sup id="_ref-54" class="reference"><a href="#_note-54" title="">[54]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand underwent surgery for <a href="Lung_cancer" title="lung cancer">lung cancer</a> in 1974. Several more of her closest "Collective" friends parted company with her,<sup id="_ref-55" class="reference"><a href="#_note-55" title="">[55]</a></sup> and during the late 1970s her activities within the <a href="Objectivist_movement" title="Objectivist movement">Objectivist movement</a> declined, especially after the death of her husband on November 9, 1979.<sup id="_ref-56" class="reference"><a href="#_note-56" title="">[56]</a></sup> One of her final projects was work on a television adaptation of <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>. She had also planned to write another novel, but did not get far in her notes.<sup id="_ref-57" class="reference"><a href="#_note-57" title="">[57]</a></sup> Rand died of <a href="Heart_failure" title="heart failure">heart failure</a> on March 6, 1982 at her home in New York City,<sup id="_ref-58" class="reference"><a href="#_note-58" title="">[58]</a></sup> and was interred in the <a href="Kensico_Cemetery" title="Kensico Cemetery">Kensico Cemetery</a>, <a href="Valhalla%2C_New_York" title="Valhalla, New York">Valhalla</a>, <a href="New_York" title="New York">New York</a>. Rand's funeral was attended by some of her prominent followers, including Alan Greenspan. A six-foot floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign was placed near her casket.<sup id="_ref-59" class="reference"><a href="#_note-59" title="">[59]</a></sup> In her will, Rand named Leonard Peikoff the heir to her estate. With her endorsement of his 1976 lecture series, she had recognized his work as being the best exposition of her philosophy.<sup id="_ref-60" class="reference"><a href="#_note-60" title="">[60]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Philosophy" name="Philosophy"/><h2>Philosophy</h2>
<p>{{Main}}
Rand saw her views as constituting an integrated philosophical system, which she called "Objectivism."  The essence of Objectivism, according to Rand, is "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."<sup id="_ref-61" class="reference"><a href="#_note-61" title="">[61]</a></sup>  </p>
<p>Rejecting faith as antithetical to reason, Rand opposed any form of mysticism or supernaturalism, including organized religion, and she embraced <a href="Philosophical_realism" title="philosophical realism">philosophical realism</a>.<sup id="_ref-62" class="reference"><a href="#_note-62" title="">[62]</a></sup> Rand also argued for <a href="Rational_egoism" title="rational egoism">rational egoism</a> (rational self-interest), as the only proper guiding moral principle. The individual "must exist for his own sake," she wrote in 1962, "neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself."<sup id="_ref-63" class="reference"><a href="#_note-63" title="">[63]</a></sup> In 1976, she said that her most important contributions to philosophy were her "theory of concepts, [her] ethics, and [her] discovery in politics that evil—the violation of rights—consists of the initiation of force."<sup id="_ref-64" class="reference"><a href="#_note-64" title="">[64]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand held that the only moral social system is <i><a href="Laissez-faire" title="laissez-faire">laissez-faire</a></i> <a href="Capitalism" title="capitalism">capitalism</a>. Her political views were strongly <a href="Individualism" title="individualism">individualist</a> and hence <a href="Anti-statist" title="anti-statist">anti-statist</a> and <a href="Anti-Communist" title="anti-Communist">anti-Communist</a>. Rand detested many <a href="Liberalism_in_the_United_States" title="liberalism in the United States">liberal</a> and <a href="American_conservatism" title="American conservatism">conservative</a> politicians of her time, including prominent anti-Communists.<sup id="_ref-65" class="reference"><a href="#_note-65" title="">[65]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-66" class="reference"><a href="#_note-66" title="">[66]</a></sup> Jim Powell, a senior fellow at the <a href="Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute">Cato Institute</a>, considers Rand one of the three most important women (along with <a href="Rose_Wilder_Lane" title="Rose Wilder Lane">Rose Wilder Lane</a> and <a href="Isabel_Paterson" title="Isabel Paterson">Isabel Paterson</a>) of modern American <a href="Libertarianism" title="libertarianism">libertarianism</a>,<sup id="_ref-67" class="reference"><a href="#_note-67" title="">[67]</a></sup> although she rejected libertarianism and the <a href="Libertarian_movement" title="libertarian movement">libertarian movement</a>. Rand rejected <a href="Anarcho-capitalism" title="anarcho-capitalism">anarcho-capitalism</a> as "a contradiction in terms", a point on which she has been criticized by self-avowed anarchist Objectivists such as <a href="Roy_Childs" title="Roy Childs">Roy Childs</a>.<sup id="_ref-68" class="reference"><a href="#_note-68" title="">[68]</a></sup> Philosopher <a href="Chandran_Kukathas" title="Chandran Kukathas">Chandran Kukathas</a> said her "unremitting hostility towards the state and taxation sits inconsistently with a rejection of anarchism, and her attempts to resolve the difficulty are ill-thought out and unsystematic."<sup id="_ref-69" class="reference"><a href="#_note-69" title="">[69]</a></sup> </p>
<p>She acknowledged <a href="Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> as a great influence,<sup id="_ref-70" class="reference"><a href="#_note-70" title="">[70]</a></sup> and found early inspiration in <a href="Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>,<sup id="_ref-71" class="reference"><a href="#_note-71" title="">[71]</a></sup> although she later rejected his approach, holding it to be anti-reason. She remarked that in the <a href="History_of_philosophy" title="history of philosophy">history of philosophy</a> she could only recommend "three A's" —Aristotle, <a href="Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas">Aquinas</a>, and Ayn Rand.<sup id="_ref-Sciabarra_1995_p.3D12_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Sciabarra_1995_p.3D12" title="">[14]</a></sup> Among the philosophers Rand held in particular disdain was <a href="Immanuel_Kant" title="Immanuel Kant">Immanuel Kant</a>, whom she referred to as a "monster" and "the most evil man in history".<sup id="_ref-brief_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-brief" title="">[72]</a></sup> Rand was strongly opposed to the view she ascribed to Kant that reason is unable to know reality "as it is in itself."<sup id="_ref-brief_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-brief" title="">[72]</a></sup> She considered her philosophy to be the "exact opposite" of Kant's on "every fundamental issue".<sup id="_ref-brief_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-brief" title="">[72]</a></sup> Objectivist philosophers George Walsh<sup id="_ref-Walsh_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Walsh" title="">[73]</a></sup> and Fred Seddon<sup id="_ref-74" class="reference"><a href="#_note-74" title="">[74]</a></sup> have both argued that Rand misinterpreted Kant. In particular, Walsh argues that both philosophers adhere to many of the same basic positions, and that Rand exaggerated her differences with Kant. Walsh says that for many critics, Rand's writing on Kant is "ignorant and unworthy of discussion".<sup id="_ref-Walsh_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Walsh" title="">[73]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand scholars Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen describe her style as "literary, hyperbolic and emotional," while stressing the importance and originality of her thought.<sup id="_ref-75" class="reference"><a href="#_note-75" title="">[75]</a></sup> Similarly, philosopher Jack Wheeler says that despite "the incessant bombast and continuous venting of Randian rage," he considers Rand's ethics to be "a most immense achievement, the study of which is vastly more fruitful than any other in contemporary thought."<sup id="_ref-76" class="reference"><a href="#_note-76" title="">[76]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Literary_reception" name="Literary_reception"/><h2>Literary reception</h2>
<p>Rand's novels, when they were first published, were derided by some critics as long and melodramatic,<sup id="_ref-Gladstein_117-119_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Gladstein_117-119" title="">[77]</a></sup> and became bestsellers largely due to word of mouth.<sup id="_ref-78" class="reference"><a href="#_note-78" title="">[78]</a></sup> The first reviews Rand received were for her play <i>Night of January 16</i>. Reviews of the Broadway production were mixed, and Rand considered even the positive reviews to be embarrassing because of significant changes made to her script by the producer.<sup id="_ref-79" class="reference"><a href="#_note-79" title="">[79]</a></sup> Rand herself described her first novel, <i>We the Living</i>, as not being widely reviewed, but Michael S. Berliner says "it was the most reviewed of any of her works," with approximately 125 different reviews being published in more than 200 publications. Many of these reviews were more positive than the reviews she received for her later work.<sup id="_ref-80" class="reference"><a href="#_note-80" title="">[80]</a></sup> Her 1938 novella <i>Anthem</i> received little attention from reviewers, both for its first publication in England and for several subsequent re-issues.<sup id="_ref-81" class="reference"><a href="#_note-81" title="">[81]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand's first bestseller, <i>The Fountainhead</i>, received far fewer reviews than <i>We the Living</i>, and reviewers' opinions were mixed.<sup id="_ref-tfreviews_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-tfreviews" title="">[82]</a></sup> There was a positive review in <i><a href="The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times">The New York Times</a></i> that Rand greatly appreciated.<sup id="_ref-83" class="reference"><a href="#_note-83" title="">[83]</a></sup> The <i>Times</i> reviewer called Rand "a writer of great power" who writes "brilliantly, beautifully and bitterly," and it stated that she had "written a hymn in praise of the individual... you will not be able to read this masterful book without thinking through some of the basic concepts of our time."<sup id="_ref-84" class="reference"><a href="#_note-84" title="">[84]</a></sup> There were other positive reviews, but Rand dismissed many of them as either not understanding her message or as being from unimportant publications.<sup id="_ref-tfreviews_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-tfreviews" title="">[82]</a></sup> A number of negative reviews focused on the length of the novel,<sup id="_ref-Gladstein_117-119_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Gladstein_117-119" title="">[77]</a></sup> such as one that called it "a whale of a book" and another that said "anyone who is taken in by it deserves a stern lecture on paper-rationing." Other negative reviews called the characters unsympathetic and Rand's style "offensively pedestrian."<sup id="_ref-tfreviews_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-tfreviews" title="">[82]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand's 1957 novel <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> was widely reviewed, and many of the reviews were strongly negative.<sup id="_ref-Gladstein_117-119_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Gladstein_117-119" title="">[77]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-asreviews_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-asreviews" title="">[85]</a></sup> In the <i><a href="National_Review" title="National Review">National Review</a></i>, conservative author <a href="Whittaker_Chambers" title="Whittaker Chambers">Whittaker Chambers</a> called the book "sophomoric" and "remarkably silly", and declared that it "can be called a novel only by devaluing the term". He described the tone of the book as "shrillness without reprieve" and accused Rand of supporting the same godless system as the <a href="Religion_in_the_Soviet_Union" title="Religion in the Soviet Union">Soviets</a>, claiming "From almost any page of <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: 'To a gas chamber—go!'"<sup id="_ref-86" class="reference"><a href="#_note-86" title="">[86]</a></sup> A few publications gave the novel positive reviews,<sup id="_ref-asreviews_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-asreviews" title="">[85]</a></sup> but as Rand scholar <a href="Mimi_Reisel_Gladstein" title="Mimi Reisel Gladstein">Mimi Reisel Gladstein</a> later described them, many reviewers "seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs," calling the book "execrable claptrap" and "a nightmare;" they said it was "written out of hate" and showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity."<sup id="_ref-Gladstein_117-119_d" class="reference"><a href="#_note-Gladstein_117-119" title="">[77]</a></sup></p>
<p>During Rand's lifetime her work received little attention from academic scholars.<sup id="_ref-reception_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-reception" title="">[87]</a></sup> When <i>With Charity Toward None: An Analysis of Ayn Rand's Philosophy</i>, the first academic book about Rand's philosophy, appeared in 1971, its author William F. O'Neill declared writing about Rand "a treacherous undertaking" that could lead to "guilt by association" for taking her seriously.<sup id="_ref-88" class="reference"><a href="#_note-88" title="">[88]</a></sup> A few articles about Rand's ideas appeared in academic journals prior to her death in 1982, many of them in <i><a href="The_Personalist" title="The Personalist">The Personalist</a></i>.<sup id="_ref-89" class="reference"><a href="#_note-89" title="">[89]</a></sup> Academic consideration of Rand as a literary figure during her life was even more limited. Gladstein was unable to find any scholarly articles about Rand's novels when she began researching her in 1973, and only three such articles appeared during the rest of the 1970s.<sup id="_ref-90" class="reference"><a href="#_note-90" title="">[90]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Legacy" name="Legacy"/><h2>Legacy</h2>
<p>{{See also}}
<a class="internal" href="Image:Ayn_Rand_quote%2C_American_Adventure%2C_Epcot_Center%2C_Walt_Disney_World.jpg.jpg" title="An engraving in all capital letters that reads: &quot;Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.&quot; Ayn Rand"><img src="Ayn_Rand_quote%2C_American_Adventure%2C_Epcot_Center%2C_Walt_Disney_World.jpg.jpg" alt="An engraving in all capital letters that reads: &quot;Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.&quot; Ayn Rand" title="An engraving in all capital letters that reads: &quot;Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.&quot; Ayn Rand" class="location-right type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">A quote from Rand's book <i>The Fountainhead</i>, on the wall directly across from the entrance to <a href="The_American_Adventure" title="The_American_Adventure">The American Adventure</a> rotunda at <a href="Walt_Disney_World_Resort" title="Walt Disney World Resort">Walt Disney World's</a> <a href="Epcot_Center" title="Epcot Center">Epcot Center</a></div>
Rand's books continue to be widely sold and read, with 25 million copies sold as of 2007, and 800,000 more being sold each year according to the <a href="Ayn_Rand_Institute" title="Ayn Rand Institute">Ayn Rand Institute</a>.<sup id="_ref-sales_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-sales" title="">[34]</a></sup> She has also had an influence on a number of notable people in different fields. Examples include philosophers such as <a href="John_Hospers" title="John Hospers">John Hospers</a>, <a href="George_H._Smith" title="George H. Smith">George H. Smith</a>, <a href="Allan_Gotthelf" title="Allan Gotthelf">Allan Gotthelf</a>, Robert Mayhew and <a href="Tara_Smith_(philosopher)" title="Tara Smith (philosopher)">Tara Smith</a>, economists such as <a href="George_Reisman" title="George Reisman">George Reisman</a> and <a href="Murray_Rothbard" title="Murray Rothbard">Murray Rothbard</a>, psychologists such as <a href="Edwin_A._Locke" title="Edwin A. Locke">Edwin A. Locke</a>, historians such as <a href="Robert_Hessen" title="Robert Hessen">Robert Hessen</a>, and political writers such as <a href="Charles_Murray_(author)" title="Charles Murray (author)">Charles Murray</a>. <a href="United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress">United States Congressmen</a> <a href="Ron_Paul" title="Ron Paul">Ron Paul</a><sup id="_ref-91" class="reference"><a href="#_note-91" title="">[91]</a></sup> and <a href="Bob_Barr" title="Bob Barr">Bob Barr</a>,<sup id="_ref-92" class="reference"><a href="#_note-92" title="">[92]</a></sup> and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States <a href="Clarence_Thomas" title="Clarence Thomas">Clarence Thomas</a><sup id="_ref-93" class="reference"><a href="#_note-93" title="">[93]</a></sup> have acknowledged her influence on their lives, and former United States President <a href="Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> described himself as an "admirer" of Rand in private correspondence in the 1960s.<sup id="_ref-94" class="reference"><a href="#_note-94" title="">[94]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Popular_interest_and_influence" name="Popular_interest_and_influence"/><h3>Popular interest and influence</h3>
<p>When a 1991 survey by the <a href="Library_of_Congress" title="Library of Congress">Library of Congress</a> and the <a href="Book-of-the-Month_Club" title="Book-of-the-Month Club">Book-of-the-Month Club</a> asked what the most influential book in the respondent's life was, Rand's <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> was the second most popular choice, after the <a href="Bible" title="Bible">Bible</a>.<sup id="_ref-95" class="reference"><a href="#_note-95" title="">[95]</a></sup> Readers polled in 1998 and 1999 by <a href="Modern_Library" title="Modern Library">Modern Library</a> placed four of her books on the 100 Best Novels list, with <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> taking the top position, while another, <i><a href="The_Virtue_of_Selfishness" title="The Virtue of Selfishness">The Virtue of Selfishness</a></i>, topped the 100 Best Nonfiction list. Books by other authors about Rand and her philosophy also appeared on the non-fiction list.<sup id="_ref-96" class="reference"><a href="#_note-96" title="">[96]</a></sup> The validity of such lists has been disputed.<sup id="_ref-97" class="reference"><a href="#_note-97" title="">[97]</a></sup> Freestar Media/Zogby polls conducted in 2007 found that around 8 percent of American adults have read <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>.<sup id="_ref-98" class="reference"><a href="#_note-98" title="">[98]</a></sup> Although Rand's influence has been greatest in the United States, there has been international interest in her work.<sup id="_ref-99" class="reference"><a href="#_note-99" title="">[99]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-100" class="reference"><a href="#_note-100" title="">[100]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-101" class="reference"><a href="#_note-101" title="">[101]</a></sup> Her books were international best sellers, and continue to sell in large numbers in the 21st century.<sup id="_ref-102" class="reference"><a href="#_note-102" title="">[102]</a></sup> Sales of <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> grew significantly during the economic crisis caused by the <a href="Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932009" title="Financial crisis of 2007–2009">2007 credit crunch</a>, in which some saw parallels to events in the novel.<sup id="_ref-103" class="reference"><a href="#_note-103" title="">[103]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand has been cited by numerous writers, artists and commentators as an influence on their lives and thought. Radio personality <a href="Rush_Limbaugh" title="Rush Limbaugh">Rush Limbaugh</a> makes frequent positive reference to Rand's work on his program.<sup id="_ref-104" class="reference"><a href="#_note-104" title="">[104]</a></sup> Magician and comedian <a href="Penn_Jillette" title="Penn Jillette">Penn Jillette</a> has acknowledged her influence.<sup id="_ref-105" class="reference"><a href="#_note-105" title="">[105]</a></sup> American fashion designer <a href="Ralph_Lauren" title="Ralph Lauren">Ralph Lauren</a> has named her as one of his favorite authors.<sup id="_ref-106" class="reference"><a href="#_note-106" title="">[106]</a></sup> <a href="Steve_Ditko" title="Steve Ditko">Steve Ditko</a>, co-creator of the <a href="Spider-man" title="Spider-man">Spider-man</a> character, created several comic-book characters based on his Objectivist beliefs, including <a href="Mr._A" title="Mr. A">Mr. A</a> and the DC Comics character <a href="Question_(comics)" title="Question (comics)">the Question</a>.<sup id="_ref-107" class="reference"><a href="#_note-107" title="">[107]</a></sup> The later graphic novel <i>Watchmen</i> by <a href="Alan_Moore" title="Alan Moore">Alan Moore</a> embodies a critique of Randian ideas in the character of <a href="Rorschach_(comics)" title="Rorschach (comics)">Rorschach</a>, which Moore credits to Ditko's influence.<sup id="_ref-108" class="reference"><a href="#_note-108" title="">[108]</a></sup> The Canadian rock band <a href="Rush_(band)" title="Rush (band)">Rush</a> has explored many Rand themes in their lyrics, including the song "<a href="2112_(song)" title="2112 (song)">2112</a>," which is loosely based on Rand's <i>Anthem</i>.<sup id="_ref-109" class="reference"><a href="#_note-109" title="">[109]</a></sup> Rand or characters based on her figure prominently in novels by such authors as <a href="William_F._Buckley" title="William F. Buckley">William F. Buckley</a>, <a href="Mary_Gaitskill" title="Mary Gaitskill">Mary Gaitskill</a>, <a href="Matt_Ruff" title="Matt Ruff">Matt Ruff</a>, <a href="J._Neil_Schulman" title="J. Neil Schulman">J. Neil Schulman</a>, and <a href="Kay_Nolte_Smith" title="Kay Nolte Smith">Kay Nolte Smith</a>.<sup id="_ref-110" class="reference"><a href="#_note-110" title="">[110]</a></sup> Author <a href="Terry_Goodkind" title="Terry Goodkind">Terry Goodkind</a> was influenced by Rand, and characters in his books express Objectivist ideas.<sup id="_ref-111" class="reference"><a href="#_note-111" title="">[111]</a></sup> The video game <i><a href="BioShock" title="BioShock">BioShock</a></i> includes elements inspired by its creator's reaction to <i>Atlas Shrugged</i>.<sup id="_ref-112" class="reference"><a href="#_note-112" title="">[112]</a></sup> Rand's image appears on a <a href="Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_the_United_States" title="Postage stamps and postal history of the United States">U.S. postage stamp</a> designed by artist <a href="Nick_Gaetano" title="Nick Gaetano">Nick Gaetano</a>.<sup id="_ref-113" class="reference"><a href="#_note-113" title="">[113]</a></sup></p>
<p>Two movies have been made about Rand's life. A 1997 documentary film, <i><a href="Ayn_Rand:_A_Sense_of_Life" title="Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life">Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life</a></i>, was nominated for the <a href="Academy_Award" title="Academy Award">Academy Award</a> for <a href="Academy_Award_for_Documentary_Feature" title="Academy Award for Documentary Feature">Best Documentary Feature</a>.<sup id="_ref-114" class="reference"><a href="#_note-114" title="">[114]</a></sup> <i><a href="The_Passion_of_Ayn_Rand_(film)" title="The Passion of Ayn Rand (film)">The Passion of Ayn Rand</a></i>, an independent film about her life, was made in 1999, starring <a href="Helen_Mirren" title="Helen Mirren">Helen Mirren</a> as Rand and <a href="Peter_Fonda" title="Peter Fonda">Peter Fonda</a> as her husband. The film was based on the <a href="The_Passion_of_Ayn_Rand_(book)" title="The Passion of Ayn Rand (book)">book of the same name</a> by <a href="Barbara_Branden" title="Barbara Branden">Barbara Branden</a>, and won several awards.<sup id="_ref-115" class="reference"><a href="#_note-115" title="">[115]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-116" class="reference"><a href="#_note-116" title="">[116]</a></sup> A film adaptation of <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> has been discussed for many years, and several attempts have been made to bring it into production, but none has ever moved beyond the planning stages.<sup id="_ref-117" class="reference"><a href="#_note-117" title="">[117]</a></sup></p>
<p>Rand's work and persona have their detractors. <a href="Nick_Gillespie" title="Nick Gillespie">Nick Gillespie</a>, editor in chief of <a href="Reason_(magazine)" title="Reason (magazine)"><i>Reason</i> magazine</a>, has remarked that "Rand’s is a tortured immortality, one in which she’s as likely to be a punch line as a protagonist," with "jibes at Rand as cold and inhuman, running through the popular culture."<sup id="_ref-118" class="reference"><a href="#_note-118" title="">[118]</a></sup> A number of popular animated sitcoms have mentioned Rand or her works, including a <i><a href="Futurama" title="Futurama">Futurama</a></i> episode where in the future Rand's works are found in the sewer, a <i><a href="South_Park" title="South Park">South Park</a></i> episode where <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> is described as a "piece of garbage," and multiple references in episodes of <i><a href="The_Simpsons" title="The Simpsons">The Simpsons</a></i>.<sup id="_ref-illustrated4-5_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-illustrated4-5" title="">[119]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-120" class="reference"><a href="#_note-120" title="">[120]</a></sup> Outside the world of animation, Rand has been referred to in a variety of shows, including game shows (<i><a href="Jeopardy!" title="Jeopardy!">Jeopardy!</a></i><sup id="_ref-illustrated4-5_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-illustrated4-5" title="">[119]</a></sup>), dramas (<i><a href="The_Gilmore_Girls" title="The Gilmore Girls">The Gilmore Girls</a></i>,<sup id="_ref-illustrated4-5_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-illustrated4-5" title="">[119]</a></sup> <i><a href="Mad_Men" title="Mad Men">Mad Men</a></i><sup id="_ref-121" class="reference"><a href="#_note-121" title="">[121]</a></sup>), and comedies (<i><a href="The_Colbert_Report" title="The Colbert Report">The Colbert Report</a></i><sup id="_ref-122" class="reference"><a href="#_note-122" title="">[122]</a></sup>). <i><a href="The_Philosophical_Lexicon" title="The Philosophical Lexicon">The Philosophical Lexicon</a></i>, a satirical work maintained by philosophers <a href="Daniel_Dennett" title="Daniel Dennett">Daniel Dennett</a> and Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen, defines a 'rand' as: "An angry tirade occasioned by mistaking philosophical disagreement for a personal attack and/or evidence of unspeakable moral corruption."<sup id="_ref-123" class="reference"><a href="#_note-123" title="">[123]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Academia" name="Academia"/><h3>Academia</h3>
<p>Since Rand's death in 1982, there has been gradually increasing interest in her work.<sup id="_ref-124" class="reference"><a href="#_note-124" title="">[124]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-125" class="reference"><a href="#_note-125" title="">[125]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-126" class="reference"><a href="#_note-126" title="">[126]</a></sup> However few universities currently include Rand or Objectivism as a philosophical specialty or research area. Some American universities have established chairs or centers for the study of Rand's views, and fellowships have been established to support individual scholars. Specifically, the Anthem Foundation has supported research on Rand at the philosophy departments of the <a href="University_of_Pittsburgh" title="University of Pittsburgh">University of Pittsburgh</a> and the <a href="University_of_Texas_at_Austin" title="University of Texas at Austin">University of Texas at Austin</a>.<sup id="_ref-127" class="reference"><a href="#_note-127" title="">[127]</a></sup></p>
<p>Some academic philosophers have criticized Rand for what they assert is a lack of rigor and limited understanding of philosophical subject matter.<sup id="_ref-reception_b" class="reference"><a href="#_note-reception" title="">[87]</a></sup><sup id="_ref-128" class="reference"><a href="#_note-128" title="">[128]</a></sup> Many in the <a href="Continental_philosophy" title="Continental philosophy">Continental</a> tradition think her celebration of self-interest relies on sophistic logic, and as a result have not thought her work worth any serious consideration.<sup id="_ref-129" class="reference"><a href="#_note-129" title="">[129]</a></sup> According to columnist Sara Dabney Tisdale, philosophers have dismissed <i>Atlas Shrugged</i> as "sophomoric, preachy, and unoriginal"<sup id="_ref-130" class="reference"><a href="#_note-130" title="">[130]</a></sup> and have marginalized her philosophy.<sup id="_ref-131" class="reference"><a href="#_note-131" title="">[131]</a></sup> Chris Sciabarra has called into question the motives of some of Rand's critics on account of what he calls unusual hostility of their criticisms.<sup id="_ref-132" class="reference"><a href="#_note-132" title="">[132]</a></sup> Sciabarra says, "The left was infuriated by her anti-communist, procapitalist politics, whereas the right was disgusted with her atheism and civil libertarianism."<sup id="_ref-reception_c" class="reference"><a href="#_note-reception" title="">[87]</a></sup></p>
<p>Writers on Rand such as Sciabarra, <a href="Allan_Gotthelf" title="Allan Gotthelf">Allan Gotthelf</a>, and <a href="Tara_Smith_(philosopher)" title="Tara Smith (philosopher)">Tara Smith</a> have made attempts to teach her work in academic institutions. Sciabarra co-edits the <i><a href="Journal_of_Ayn_Rand_Studies" title="Journal of Ayn Rand Studies">Journal of Ayn Rand Studies</a></i>, a self-described "nonpartisan" peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of Rand's philosophical and literary work.<sup id="_ref-133" class="reference"><a href="#_note-133" title="">[133]</a></sup> In 1987 Gotthelf helped found the Ayn Rand Society, which is affiliated with the <a href="American_Philosophical_Association" title="American Philosophical Association">American Philosophical Association</a> and has been active in sponsoring seminars and distributing videotaped lecture courses on Ayn Rand.<sup id="_ref-134" class="reference"><a href="#_note-134" title="">[134]</a></sup> Smith has published several academic books and papers on Rand's ideas, including <i>Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist</i>, a volume on Rand's ethical theory published by <a href="Cambridge_University_Press" title="Cambridge University Press">Cambridge University Press</a>. Rand's ideas have also been made subjects of study at <a href="Clemson_University" title="Clemson University">Clemson</a> and <a href="Duke_University" title="Duke University">Duke</a> universities.<sup id="_ref-135" class="reference"><a href="#_note-135" title="">[135]</a></sup> Scholars of English and American <a href="Literature" title="literature">literature</a> have largely ignored her work, although attention to her literary work has increased since the 1990s.<sup id="_ref-136" class="reference"><a href="#_note-136" title="">[136]</a></sup> In the <i><a href="Literary_Encyclopedia" title="Literary Encyclopedia">Literary Encyclopedia</a></i> entry for Rand written in 2001, John Lewis declared that "Rand wrote the most intellectually challenging fiction of her generation".<sup id="_ref-137" class="reference"><a href="#_note-137" title="">[137]</a></sup> In a 1999 interview in the <i><a href="Chronicle_of_Higher_Education" title="Chronicle of Higher Education">Chronicle of Higher Education</a>,</i> Rand scholar <a href="Chris_Matthew_Sciabarra" title="Chris Matthew Sciabarra">Chris Matthew Sciabarra</a> commented, "I know they laugh at Rand," while forecasting a growth of interest in her work in the academic community.<sup id="_ref-138" class="reference"><a href="#_note-138" title="">[138]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Institutes" name="Institutes"/><h3>Institutes</h3>
<p>In 1985 Leonard Peikoff established the <a href="Ayn_Rand_Institute" title="Ayn Rand Institute">Ayn Rand Institute</a>, which "works to introduce young people to Ayn Rand's novels, to support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and to promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the widest possible audience."<sup id="_ref-139" class="reference"><a href="#_note-139" title="">[139]</a></sup> In 1990 <a href="David_Kelley" title="David Kelley">David Kelley</a> founded the Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known as <a href="The_Atlas_Society" title="The Atlas Society">The Atlas Society</a>. Its focus is on attracting readers of Rand's fiction; the associated Objectivist Center deals with more academic ventures. In 2000 historian John McCaskey organized the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, which provides grants for scholarly work on Objectivism in academia.</p>
<a id="Notes" name="Notes"/><h2>Notes</h2>
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<a id="External_links" name="External_links"/><h2>External links</h2>
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<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/biofaq.html" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/biofaq.html">Ayn Rand Biographical FAQ</a> from the Objectivism Reference Center</li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_faq_index2" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_faq_index2">Frequently Asked Questions About Ayn Rand</a> from the <a href="Ayn_Rand_Institute" title="Ayn Rand Institute">Ayn Rand Institute</a></li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.aynrandlexicon.com" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.aynrandlexicon.com">Ayn Rand Lexicon</a></li>
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<li><a class="externallink" href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/faidfrquery/r?faid/faidfr:@field(SOURCE+@band(rand+ayn))" rel="nofollow" title="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/faidfrquery/r?faid/faidfr:@field(SOURCE+@band(rand+ayn))">Rand's papers at The Library of Congress</a></li>
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<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/books/02rand.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1&amp;ex=1265086800&amp;oref=slogin" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/books/02rand.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=1&amp;ex=1265086800&amp;oref=slogin">"Ayn Rand at 100"</a>, by Edward Rothstein, <i>The New York Times</i>, February 2, 2005</li></ul>

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