Ayn Rand, the Russian refugee who became America’s bestselling novelist of ideas, was born 110 years ago today in St. Petersburg. I reflect on her life and impact at Townhall.com:
George Gilder called Atlas Shrugged “the most important novel of ideas since War and Peace.” Writing in the Washington Post, he explained her impact on the world of ideas and especially the world of capitalist ideas: “Rand flung her gigantic books into the teeth of an intelligentsia still intoxicated by state power, during an era when even Dwight Eisenhower maintained tax rates of 90 percent and confessed his inability to answer Nikita Khrushchev’s assertion that capitalism was immoral because it was based on greed.”
Rand’s books first appeared when no one seemed to support freedom and capitalism, and when even capitalism’s greatest defenders seemed to emphasize its utility, not its morality. It was often said at the time that socialism is a good idea in theory, but human beings just aren’t good enough for socialism. It was Ayn Rand who said that socialism is not good enough for human beings.…
The financial crisis and Wall Street bailouts gave Atlas Shrugged a huge push. A Facebook group titled “Read the news today? It’s like ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is happening in real life” was formed. More than 50 years after publication, the book had its best sales year ever. And sales have remained high – more than a million copies of Rand’s books were sold in 2012.
Whole thing here.
Find my exchange on Objectivism and libertarianism here. Watch two biographers of Ayn Rand talk about her at a Cato forum here. Scholars debate Rand’s moral and political thought at Cato Unbound.
