Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party
Fifty-five years after Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand is more in the news than ever. Ayn Rand Explained is an accurate and riveting account of Rand’s life, work, and influence, with the emphasis on her ideas.
The book covers Rand’s career, from youth in Soviet Russia to Hollywood screenwriter and then to ideological guru; her novels and other fiction writings; her work in ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics; her influence on—and personal animosity toward—both conservatism and libertarianism.
Rand’s Objectivism encompasses the ethics of rational egoism (‘The Virtue of Selfishness’); dedication to rational thinking and acting; rejection of faith in the supernatural, personal freedom from political interference, and a moral defense of limited government and laissez-faire.
Objectivism was first promoted through the Nathaniel Branden Institute, headed by Rand’s young protégé and designated heir. The Institute’s phenomenally rapid growth was abruptly cut short when Rand expelled Branden and his followers in 1968. Today Objectivism is represented by different factions, notably the Ayn Rand Institute and the Atlas Society.
This is a revised, updated edition of The Ideas of Ayn Rand (1991), including new information on Rand’s rocketing influence, new stories about her personal relationships, and new analysis of her life and ideas.
1131690070
Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party
Fifty-five years after Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand is more in the news than ever. Ayn Rand Explained is an accurate and riveting account of Rand’s life, work, and influence, with the emphasis on her ideas.
The book covers Rand’s career, from youth in Soviet Russia to Hollywood screenwriter and then to ideological guru; her novels and other fiction writings; her work in ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics; her influence on—and personal animosity toward—both conservatism and libertarianism.
Rand’s Objectivism encompasses the ethics of rational egoism (‘The Virtue of Selfishness’); dedication to rational thinking and acting; rejection of faith in the supernatural, personal freedom from political interference, and a moral defense of limited government and laissez-faire.
Objectivism was first promoted through the Nathaniel Branden Institute, headed by Rand’s young protégé and designated heir. The Institute’s phenomenally rapid growth was abruptly cut short when Rand expelled Branden and his followers in 1968. Today Objectivism is represented by different factions, notably the Ayn Rand Institute and the Atlas Society.
This is a revised, updated edition of The Ideas of Ayn Rand (1991), including new information on Rand’s rocketing influence, new stories about her personal relationships, and new analysis of her life and ideas.
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Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party

Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party

Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party

Ayn Rand Explained: From Tyranny to Tea Party

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Overview

Fifty-five years after Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand is more in the news than ever. Ayn Rand Explained is an accurate and riveting account of Rand’s life, work, and influence, with the emphasis on her ideas.
The book covers Rand’s career, from youth in Soviet Russia to Hollywood screenwriter and then to ideological guru; her novels and other fiction writings; her work in ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics; her influence on—and personal animosity toward—both conservatism and libertarianism.
Rand’s Objectivism encompasses the ethics of rational egoism (‘The Virtue of Selfishness’); dedication to rational thinking and acting; rejection of faith in the supernatural, personal freedom from political interference, and a moral defense of limited government and laissez-faire.
Objectivism was first promoted through the Nathaniel Branden Institute, headed by Rand’s young protégé and designated heir. The Institute’s phenomenally rapid growth was abruptly cut short when Rand expelled Branden and his followers in 1968. Today Objectivism is represented by different factions, notably the Ayn Rand Institute and the Atlas Society.
This is a revised, updated edition of The Ideas of Ayn Rand (1991), including new information on Rand’s rocketing influence, new stories about her personal relationships, and new analysis of her life and ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780812697988
Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date: 11/13/2012
Series: Ideas Explained , #10
Edition description: Revised Edition
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 The Controversial Ayn Rand l

Formidable Influence 3

Political Impact 5

Portraits and Memoirs 6

A Muse for Popular Art 9

The New Atlas Shrugged Wave 11

"In the Name of the Best within Us" 12

Against Relativism and Subjectivism 16

The Virtue of Selfishness 17

2 Who Was Ayn Rand? 19

Rand in Hollywood 20

The Atlas Phenomenon 22

The Objectivist Movement 25

Was Objectivism a Cult? 26

The Great Schism of Objectivism 29

Shrinking of the Movement 31

From Individualism to the Morality of Capitalism 34

3 Ayn Rand in Person 37

Partisan Accounts 40

Rand and Her Hangers-on 41

The Owner of Objectivism? 43

No One Owns Objectivism 44

Horrified by Hypocrisy 46

From the Political to the Personal and Back 48

Rand's Personality in Context 51

Ayn and Frank 53

4 The Young Nietzschean 57

Alone Against the World 57

The Evolution of Objectivism 59

The Randian Style 60

Nietzsche's Influence on Rand 62

The Nietzschean Vision 63

Literary Influences 68

Rand's Early Fiction 69

Red Pawn 71

Penthouse Legend 72

We the Living 74

The Theme 75

Trio for Heroes 75

A Cinematic Style 77

Textual Changes in We the Living 79

The Failure of Nietzsche 81

5 Scourge of the Second-Handers 83

The Enigma of Ideal 83

Think Twice 86

The Fountainhead 87

The Break with Nietzsche 89

A Traditional Antithesis 93

The Impossible Villain 94

Intellectual Snobbery 95

A Seamless Patchwork 96

Acquittal Unsatisfactory 97

The Embryo of Objectivism 98

Anthem 98

'The Simplest Thing in the World' 100

6 The Book that Changed the World 101

A Departure in Style 101

Plot, Plot, and Plot 103

The Technique of Philosophical Integration 104

Rand's Heroes: The Roots 107

Dagny Taggart and the Randian Woman 109

Francisco d'Anconia 112

Hank Rearden 112

Who If John Gait? 113

Bit-Part Heroes 114

The Villains 114

The Secondary Heroes 116

Thirty-Six Just Men? 118

Nathaniel Branden's Critique 120

Rand and Repression 121

The Randian Lovers 123

Paradox Resolved 125

Beyond the Taggart Terminal 126

7 Rand the Philosopher 127

Objectivism Versus Academia 128

Metaphysical Roots 130

An Epistemological Radical 132

Rand's Theory of Concepts 133

The Analytic-Synthetic Dichotomy 136

Epistemology in Practice 137

The Objectivist Ethics 139

Ethics and Values: Two Lines of Argument 140

The Randian Argument 142

Ends and Ends in Themselves 143

The Means Test 145

Rand and the Aristotelian Legacy 146

From Is to Ought: Is There Aught or Is All for Nought? 147

What Is the Meaning of 'Life' Anyway? 150

Some Objections to Objectivist Ethics 154

From Leaking Lifeboats to the Asteroid Test 155

The Gait-like Golfer 158

Robert Nozick Versus the Count of Monte Cristo 159

Human Nature and Its Consequences 160

The Ethics of the Future 161

From Theory to How-to 163

Objectivist Esthetics 163

Esthetic Difficulties and Definitions 165

8 Rand's Politics 167

A Political Odyssey 167

The Radical for Capitalism 169

The Goldwater Debacle 170

Roots of the New Conservatism 172

Rand's Critique of Conservatism 173

The Evolution of Libertarianism 175

The Essence of Libertarianism 175

Roots of the Political Conflict 176

Objectivism versus Libertarianism: The Case for the Plaintiff 178

Objectivism versus Libertarianism: The Case for the Defendant 181

Objectivism and the Theory of Government 182

Rand's View of Man and Society 184

The Final Decline 188

The Path Less Traveled 189

9 Ayn Rand's Revolution 193

A Second Crusade? 193

Or the Ivory Tower? 195

The Schoolroom or the Polling Booth 197

Back to the Future 199

What Is to Be Done? 200

Life Support Systems 201

The Tactics of Sanction 202

The First of Their Return… 203

Bibliography 205

Index 213

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