 First edition | |
| Author | Isabel Paterson |
|---|---|
| Subject | Individualism |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
Publication date | 1943 |
| ISBN | 978-1412815833 |
The God of the Machine is a book written byIsabel Paterson and originally published in January 1943 in theUnited States byG. P. Putnam's Sons.[1] At the time of its release, it was considered a cornerstone to the philosophy ofindividualism.[2] Her biographer,Stephen D. Cox, in 2004 described Paterson as the "earliest progenitor oflibertarianism as we know it today".[3]
The book has been published several times: by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 1943, by Muriel Hall in 1964,[4] byTransaction Publishers in 1993,[5] and byRoutledge in 2017.[6]
Isabel Paterson wrote a regular column for theNew York Herald Tribune, where she first articulated many of her beliefs, which reached their final form inThe God of the Machine. She also foreshadowed those ideas, especially free trade, in her historical novels during the 1920s and 1930s.
Paterson opposed most parts of the economic program known as theNew Deal that US presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and theCongress put into effect during the 1930s and she advocated less governmental involvement in social andfiscal matters. She also led a group of younger friends (many of whom were other employees of theHerald Tribune) who shared her views. One member of that group was the youngAyn Rand.
Paterson and Rand promoted each other's books, and they conducted an extensive exchange of letters, touching on religion and philosophy. That correspondence ended with a personal quarrel in 1948. Rand, anatheist, was critical of the attempts of Paterson, adeist, to linkcapitalism with religion, things that Rand considered incompatible.
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