by Greg Barnhisel
It ’s a novel ! It ’s a ism ! It ’s the command manual for a mad cult!Atlas Shruggedcould be all of those things . Then again , perhaps it ’s just about a little Russian little girl who really hated produce up around Bolsheviks .
Ayn Rand was a woman who know how to betray philosophy . As the founder of Objectivism — a belief in the great power of the individual and " the virtue of selfishness"—Rand had something going for her that great thinkers like Aristotle and Kierkegaard did n’t : She receive her startle in Hollywood .
After immigrating to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1926 , Rand managed to bless on with famed film manufacturer - director Cecil B. DeMille as an extra in his movieThe King of Kings . An aspire film writer , she shortly had the connections she require to begin remove the throat her wares . By 1932 , she ’d sell her first screenplay and manage the production of one of her dramatic play . In other words , Ayn ( label " Eye - n,“ not " Ann" ) knew how to produce for a general hearing — not just the intellectual elite . So when she delved into ism and start to formulate the idea that would finally become Objectivism , the result whole shebang ( namelyThe FountainheadandAtlas Shrugged ) read more like blockbuster melodramas than doctrine thesis .
The Rise of John Galt
Rand ’s ability to write for a general audience is sure enough one of the reasonsAtlas Shruggedlanded the No . 1 spot onModern Library ’s reader ' poll parrot of " 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century . “But just like the gang - pleasing popcorn picture show that do n’t have a prayer of advance an Oscar , literary critics often plow Rand ’s novel like something the computed tomography cough up . Atlas Shruggedwas nowhere to be found in the " official"Modern Libraryranking , and in 2000 , a columnist for the liberal - minded Salon.com slammed it as " a novelisation ofMein Kampfby Barbara Cartland . “
Whether you see it as a 1,200 - page doorstop or the book that convert your liveliness , Atlas Shruggedis a good introduction to Rand ’s school of thought . The story takes blank space in what is basically the author ’s sight of the next America . After liberal gain control of the governance , federal functionary immediately begin bring down regulations on businesses that are intended to help the weaker penis of fellowship . As a result , the main fictitious character , railroad executive Dagny Taggart , is draw to give up her company ’s most lucrative route to a little wheeler dealer . Meanwhile , steelworker Henry Rearden is prevented from sell his latest metal innovation because the government believes it might suffer his competitors by give him an vantage . Laws are passed that require all patents to be signed over to federal official , and businessman are no longer allowed to rivet their companies on profits . Instead , the government say them they must sour to benefit smart set , even if that mean running their process at a loss .
Soon , all of the capitalist have their hands tied . The so - called " looters" take thrill , causing the raw edict of the economy to be subverted , and millions are given jobs because they ask the work , not because they can actually do the parturiency . With incompetent person and slackers staffing important position , America ’s infrastructure begins to fall apart . railway stop , bridges fall , city go dark , and a mysterious pirate named Ragnar Danneskjöld pillages the few ships that still bear goods to America .
uncoerced to abandon their assets for the political science to squander , America ’s executive director and man of affairs start out to disappear tout ensemble . When Dagny finally bump the " striking" industrialists in a secret Colorado vale , she visit they ’ve created their own society based on pure selfishness and greed . The vale has cant , mines , artists , oil producer , engineers — everything that made America gravid in the first shoes . Its founder and guiding flavor , John Galt , is also there , serving as a form of magnetized prophet and the leader of the tap . Later , Galt is turn back and subjected to torture after he takes over the airwaves and speak out against the government activity . But the striker — now joined by Dagny — rescue him and deliver to the vale . finally , the collectivist practices governing the country lead to total collapse . Galt , Dagny , and the quietus of the strikers , safe in the vale , prepare their return .
Not amazingly , Ayn Rand come to look up to the United States as a truly complimentary land , and she immigrated in 1926 . After her screenwriting stint , she started write novels , set about withWe the Livingin 1936 . In 1943 , she hit bestseller status withThe Fountainhead — her first tangible public raid into putting Objectivist ideas into a fictional game . Incredibly , the script was reject by 12 publishers before lastly being accepted . But the wild success ofThe Fountainheadonly whet Rand ’s appetite to turn over further into Objectivism , so when she at long last finishedAtlas Shruggedin 1957 , publisher were more than willing to pluck it up .
Although a great financial winner , Atlas Shruggedwas also her last work of fiction . After its publication , Rand pay herself fully to writing and redact Objectivist works and to run " The Collective,“ her ironically name circle of stopping point ( some say cultish ) admirer . And while The Collective cave in apart in the late sixties , when it became a picayune too " free - love" for some of its appendage , that has n’t stopped the legions of Rand followers from growing . Today , Ayn Rand fans immensely outnumber the rank of The Collective , and they are a devoted crew . The Ayn Rand Institute ( a.k.a . , The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism ) , found after Rand ’s death in 1982 , publishes a wide variety show of Randian work . And they all continue to prompt passionate devotedness in their buff .
Atlas Shruggedcontinues to inspire new readers , as well . On one hand , it ’s sluttish to read the novel as a period spell . After all , when it was publish in the 1950s , liberal New Deal programs were growing steadily , and union were at the height of their index . To readers , it must have seemed like the " looters" were taking over . But the book takes on a very different meaning today . With most politicians in both parties praise the efficiencies created by deregulation and privatization , Rand ’s nightmare visual sense might seem increasingly distant . Many , however , see it as a sign that perhaps Ayn Rand ’s ideas are set out to have the widespread encroachment she ’d hop for .
We Are Randian, Hear Us Roar
For a philosophy broadly known as Objectivism , there trusted are a lot of subjective opinions out there about it . mass of people dig it and plenty hot dog it , but those in the former class definitely seem to have a mutual thread — they’re kind of a bountiful deal . The following are just a few of the A - list Randians out there .
This clause originally appeared in mental_floss magazine .
