Ayn Rand & Atlas Shrugged: Introduction

Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged arrives in theaters on April 15 (tax day) and I’m glad. I’ve read many of her books over the last two years¹ and, frankly, there’s a lot to like. And dislike! But, I’m glad for the movie’s release because it gives Christians an opportunity to talk about several crucial issues.

So, in the next five days I’m going to do five short blogs on Ayn Rand and her philosophy organized by “Ayn Rand—the Good,” “Ayn Rand—the Bad,” and “Ayn Rand—the Ugly.” You will find that there is a plentiful helping of each.

But first, an overview.

In 1905 Ayn (rhymes with “mine”) Rand was born Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and witnessed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Soon the Communists confiscated her father’s pharmacy. She graduated from the University of Petrograd in 1924 and in 1926 moved to the United States after telling the Soviets she was only going to visit relatives. She changed her name to Ayn Rand and never returned.

In 1929 she married Frank O’Connor, to whom she was semi-faithful.

Rand authored plays and fiction becoming well known for We the Living (1936), The Fountainhead (1943), and then the blockbuster Atlas Shrugged (1957). After Atlas Shrugged she gave up fiction to focus on philosophical writing.

Why should you care?

Because Rand’s ideas have greatly influenced our culture!

• Psychology—Rand’s “inner-circle” disciple Nathanial Branden became what many have called the father of the self-esteem movement. And this is no coincidence as Rand believed that “To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason—Purpose—Self-esteem.”² Branden contributed many chapters to Rand books and Rand considered him to be her intellectual heir.
• Economics—Rand’s “inner-circle” disciple Alan Greenspan was from 1987 to 2006 chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and a firm advocate of Rand’s laissez-faire capitalism. Greenspan contributed three chapters to Rand’s book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal and Rand stood beside Greenspan when he was sworn in as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. Greenspan wrote that “Ayn Rand became a stabilizing force in my life. It hadn’t taken long for us to have a meeting of the minds—mostly my mind meeting hers.”³
• Politics—Many embrace Rand’s political perspective and some members of the Libertarian Party consider Rand essential to their founding.⁴ Congressmen Ron Paul (former Republican presidential candidate and former two-time Libertarian presidential candidate) and his son Rand Paul are libertarians (notice the name “Rand).⁵ Rush Limbaugh recommends Atlas Shrugged to his listeners.⁶ The Tea Party is pushing the Atlas Shrugged movie.⁷
• A Library of Congress/Book of the Month Club survey of 5,000 readers found Atlas Shrugged to be only behind the Bible as “the second-most-influential book of all time.”⁸ In a Modern Library survey of their readers for the top 100 novels of all time 217,520 people voted Atlas Shrugged first, The Fountainhead second, Anthem seventh, and We the Living eighth.⁹

Tomorrow: “Ayn Rand—The Good.”

1. A special thanks goes to David Ahmanson who two years ago not only encouraged me to read Ayn Rand’s books, but gave me the books to do so! [↩]
2. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957; repr., New York: Plume, 1999), 1018. [↩]
3. From Alan Greenspan’s book, The Age of Turbulence (New York: Penguin, 2007), 51. Read more at: http://www.noblesoul.com/orc/bio/turbulence.html, accessed 7 April 2011. [↩]
4. Brian Doherty: “Rand’s fiction has had such an energizing effect on millions, including almost every significant figure in the American libertarian movement.” Brian Doherty, “Ayn Rand at 100: ‘Yours Is the Glory’” Cato Policy Report, Vol. XXVII, No. 2 (March/April 2005) http://www.cato.org/research/articles/doherty-050405.html, accessed 6 April 2011. Barbara Branden: “in 1971, when a small group of people, disillusioned with the Republican Party, met in Denver to from the Libertarian Party, John Hospers wrote the statement of principles which was adopted unanimously and to roars of approval—a statement of Ayn Rand’s principles of man’s moral right to freedom, to self-interest, to unfettered pursuit of his goals, and rejection of the use of physical force except in retaliation against the initiation of force.” Barbara Branden, The Passion of Ayn Rand (New York: Anchor, 1987), 413. Also, “‘Without Ayn Rand,’ said David Nolan, the original founder of the Libertarian Party, “the libertarian movement would not exist’” (414). [↩]
5. Mark Leibovich, “For Paul Family, Libertarian Ethos Began at Home,” The New York Times Online, 5 June 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/politics/06paul.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all, accessed 7 April 2011. [↩]
6. For example, see http://atlasshrugged.com/the-book/todays-relevance/, http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_121108/content/01125115.guest.html (accessed, 7 April 2011). [↩]
7. Lindsey Boerma, “Tea Party Group Pushes Ayn Rand Movie,” National Review, 23 March 2011. http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/tea-party-group-pushes-ayn-rand-movie-20110323, accessed 7 April 2011. See also: http://www.frumforum.com/conservatives-make-room-for-ayn-rand. [↩]
8. http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2002-09-23-ayn-rand_x.htm. [↩]
9. http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/. Accessed 11 April 2011. [↩]