Alice O'Connor (bornAlisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;[c] February 2 [O.S. January 20], 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen nameAyn Rand (/aɪn/), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher.[3] She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which she namedObjectivism. Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful and twoBroadway plays, Rand achieved fame with her 1943 novelThe Fountainhead. In 1957, she published her best-selling work, the novelAtlas Shrugged. Afterward, until her death in 1982, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her ownperiodicals and releasing several collections of essays.
Rand's books have sold over 37 million copies.[d] Her fiction received mixed reviews from literary critics, with reviews becoming more negative for her later work.[5] Although academic interest in her ideas has grown since her death,[6] academic philosophers have generally ignored or rejected Rand's philosophy, arguing that she has a polemical approach and that her work lacks methodological rigor.[3] Her writings have politically influenced someright-libertarians andconservatives. TheObjectivist movement circulates her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings.
Rand was born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum on February2, 1905, into a Jewishbourgeois family living inSaint Petersburg, which was then the capital of theRussian Empire.[7] She was the eldest of three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum, a pharmacist, and Anna Borisovna (née Kaplan).[8] She was 12 when theOctober Revolution and the rule of theBolsheviks underVladimir Lenin disrupted her family's lives. Her father's pharmacy was nationalized,[9] and the family fled toYevpatoria in Crimea, which was initially under the control of theWhite Army during theRussian Civil War.[10] After graduating high school there in June 1921,[11] she returned with her family to Petrograd, as Saint Petersburg was then named,[e] where they faced desperate conditions, occasionally nearly starving.[13]
Rand's first published work was a monograph in Russian about actressPola Negri.
After the Russian Revolution opened up Russian universities to women, Rand was among the first to enroll at Petrograd State University, nowSaint Petersburg State University.[14] At 16, she began her studies in the department ofsocial pedagogy, majoring in history.[15] She was one of many bourgeois students purged from the university shortly before graduating. After complaints from a group of visiting foreign scientists, many purged students, including Rand, were reinstated.[16][17]
In October 1924, she graduated from the renamed Leningrad State University.[14][18] She then studied for a year at the StateTechnicum for Screen Arts in Leningrad. For an assignment, Rand wrote an essay about the Polish actressPola Negri. It became her first published work.[19] She decided her professional surname for writing would beRand,[20] and she adopted the first nameAyn (pronounced/aɪn/).[21][f]
In late 1925, Rand was granted avisa to visit relatives in Chicago.[27] She arrived in New York City on February19, 1926.[28] Intent on staying in the United States to become a screenwriter, she lived for a few months with her relatives learning English[29] before moving toHollywood, California.[30]
In Hollywood a chance meeting with directorCecil B. DeMille led to work as anextra in his filmThe King of Kings and a subsequent job as a junior screenwriter.[31] While working onThe King of Kings, she met the aspiring actorFrank O'Connor.[b] They married on April15, 1929. She became apermanent American resident in July 1929 and anAmerican citizen on March3, 1931.[32][33][g] She tried to bring her parents and sisters to the United States, but they could not obtain permission to emigrate.[36][37] Rand's father died of a heart attack in 1939. One of her sisters and their mother died during thesiege of Leningrad.[38]
In 1932, Rand's first literary success was the sale of her screenplayRed Pawn toUniversal Studios, although it was never produced.[39][h] Her courtroom dramaNight of January 16th, first staged in Hollywood in 1934, reopened successfully onBroadway in 1935. Each night, a jury was selected from members of the audience. Based on its vote, one of two different endings would be performed.[41][i] In December 1934, Rand and O'Connor moved to New York City so she could handle revisions for the Broadway production.[44]
In 1936, her first novel was published, the semi-autobiographical[45]We the Living. Set inSoviet Russia, it focuses on the struggle between the individual and the state. Initial sales were slow, and the American publisher let it go out of print;[46] however, European editions continued to sell.[47] She adapted the story asa stage play, but the Broadway production closed in less than a week.[48][j] After the success of her later novels, Rand released a revised version in 1959 that has sold over three million copies.[50]
In December 1935, Rand started her next major novel,The Fountainhead,[51] but took a break from it in 1937 to write her novellaAnthem.[52] The novella presents adystopian future world in whichtotalitarian collectivism has triumphed to such an extent that the wordI has been forgotten and replaced withwe.[53][54] Protagonists Equality 7-2521 andLiberty 5-3000 eventually escape the collectivistic society and rediscover the wordI.[55] It was published in England in 1938, but Rand could not find an American publisher at that time. As withWe the Living, Rand's later success allowed her to get a revised version published in 1946, and this sold over 3.5million copies.[56]
During the 1940s, Rand became politically active. She and her husband were full-time volunteers for RepublicanWendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign.[57] This work put her in contact with other intellectuals sympathetic to free-market capitalism. She became friends with journalistHenry Hazlitt, who introduced her to theAustrian School economistLudwig von Mises. Despite philosophical differences with them, Rand strongly endorsed the writings of both men, and they expressed admiration for her. Mises once called her "the most courageous man in America", a compliment that particularly pleased her because he said "man" instead of "woman".[58][59] Rand became friends with libertarian writerIsabel Paterson. Rand questioned her about American history and politics during their many meetings, and gave Paterson ideas for her only non-fiction book,The God of the Machine.[60][k]
Rand's first major success as a writer came in 1943 withThe Fountainhead,[63] a novel about an uncompromising architect named Howard Roark and his struggle against what Rand described as "second-handers" who attempt to live through others, placing others above themselves. Twelve publishers rejected it beforeBobbs-Merrill Company accepted it at the insistence of editor Archibald Ogden, who threatened to quit if his employer did not publish it.[64]
While completing the novel, Rand was prescribedBenzedrine, anamphetamine, to fight fatigue.[65] The drug helped her to work long hours to meet her deadline for delivering the novel, but afterwards she was so exhausted that her doctor ordered two weeks' rest.[66] Her use of the drug for approximately three decades may have contributed to mood swings and outbursts described by some of her later associates.[67][68]
In 1949, after several delays, thefilm version ofThe Fountainhead was released. Although it used Rand's screenplay with minimal alterations, she "disliked the movie from beginning to end" and complained about its editing, the acting and other elements.[75]
Following the publication ofThe Fountainhead, Rand received many letters from readers, some of whom the book had influenced profoundly.[77] In 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where she gathered a group of these admirers who met at Rand's apartment on weekends to discuss philosophy. The group included futurechair of the Federal ReserveAlan Greenspan, a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal (laterNathaniel Branden) and his wifeBarbara, and Barbara's cousinLeonard Peikoff. Later, Rand began allowing them to read the manuscript drafts of her new novel,Atlas Shrugged.[78]
In 1954, her close relationship with Nathaniel Branden turned into a romantic affair. They informed both their spouses, who briefly objected, until Rand "sp[u]n out a deductive chain from which you just couldn't escape", in Barbara Branden's words, resulting in her and O'Connor's assent.[79] HistorianJennifer Burns concludes that O'Connor was likely "the hardest hit" emotionally by the affair.[80]
Published in 1957,Atlas Shrugged is considered Rand'smagnum opus.[81][82] She described the novel's theme as "the role of the mind in man's existence—and, as a corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy: the morality of rational self-interest".[83] It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy ofObjectivism and expresses her concept of human achievement. The plot involves adystopian United States in which the most creative industrialists, scientists, and artists respond to awelfare state government by going onstrike and retreating to a hidden valley where they build an independent free economy. The novel's hero and leader of the strike,John Galt, describes it as stopping "the motor of the world" by withdrawing the minds of individuals contributing most to the nation's wealth and achievements.[84] The novel contains an exposition of Objectivism in a lengthy monologue delivered by Galt.[85]
Despite many negative reviews,Atlas Shrugged became an international bestseller,[86] but the reaction of intellectuals to the novel discouraged and depressed Rand.[67][87]Atlas Shrugged was her last completed work of fiction, marking the end of her career as a novelist and the beginning of her role as a popular philosopher.[88]
In 1958, Nathaniel Branden established the Nathaniel Branden Lectures, later incorporated as theNathaniel Branden Institute (NBI), to promote Rand's philosophy through public lectures. In 1962, he and Rand co-foundedThe Objectivist Newsletter (later renamedThe Objectivist) to circulate articles about her ideas.[89] She later republished some of these articles in book form. Rand was unimpressed by many of the NBI students[90] and held them to strict standards, sometimes reacting coldly or angrily to those who disagreed with her.[91][92][93]
Critics, including some former NBI students and Branden himself, later said the NBI culture was one of intellectual conformity and excessive reverence for Rand. Some described the NBI or theObjectivist movement as acult or religion.[94][95] Rand expressed opinions on a wide range of topics, from literature and music to sexuality and facial hair. Some of her followers mimicked her preferences, wearing clothes to match characters from her novels and buying furniture like hers.[96] Some former NBI students believed the extent of these behaviors was exaggerated, and the problem was concentrated among Rand's closest followers in New York.[93][97]
In the 1960s and 1970s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through nonfiction and speeches,[98][99] including annual lectures at theFord Hall Forum.[100] In answers to audience questions, she took controversial stances on political and social issues. These included supporting abortion rights,[101] opposing theVietnam War and themilitary draft (but condemning manydraft dodgers as "bums"),[102][103] supporting Israel in theYom Kippur War of 1973 against a coalition of Arab nations as "civilized men fighting savages",[104][105] claimingEuropean colonists had the right to invade and take land inhabited byAmerican Indians,[105][106] and calling homosexuality "immoral" and "disgusting", despite advocating the repeal of all laws concerning it.[107] She endorsed severalRepublican candidates for president of the United States, most stronglyBarry Goldwater in1964.[108][109]
In 1964, Nathaniel Branden began an affair with the young actressPatrecia Scott, whom he later married. Nathaniel and Barbara Branden kept the affair hidden from Rand. As her relationship with Nathaniel Branden deteriorated, Rand had her husband be present for difficult conversations between her and Branden.[111] In 1968, Rand learned about Branden's relationship with Scott. Though her romantic involvement with Nathaniel Branden was already over,[112] Rand ended her relationship with both Brandens, and the NBI closed.[113] She published an article inThe Objectivist repudiating Nathaniel Branden for dishonesty and "irrational behavior in his private life".[114] In subsequent years, Rand and several more of her closest associates parted company.[115][116]
In 1973, Rand's younger sister Eleonora Drobisheva (néeRosenbaum, 1910–1999) visited her in the US at Rand's invitation, but did not accept her lifestyle and views, as well as finding little literary merit in her works. She returned to the Soviet Union and spent the rest of her life in Leningrad, laterSaint Petersburg.[117]
In 1974, Rand had surgery for lung cancer after decades of heavy smoking.[118] In 1976, she retired from her newsletter and, despite her lifelong objections to any government-run program, was enrolled in and claimedSocial Security andMedicare with the aid of a social worker.[119][120] Her activities in the Objectivist movement declined, especially after her husband died on November9, 1979.[121] One of her final projects was a never-completed television adaptation ofAtlas Shrugged.[122]
On March6, 1982, Rand died of heart failure at her home in New York City.[123] Her funeral included a 6-foot (1.8 m) floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign.[124] In her will, Rand named Peikoff as her heir.[125]
Rand described her approach to literature as "romantic realism".[126] She wanted her fiction to present the world "as it could be and should be", rather than as it was.[127] This approach led her to create highly stylized situations and characters. Her fiction typically hasprotagonists who are heroic individualists, depicted as fit and attractive.[128] Her villains support duty and collectivist moral ideals. Rand often describes them as unattractive, and some have names that suggest negative traits, such as Wesley Mouch inAtlas Shrugged.[129][130]
Rand considered plot a critical element of literature,[131] and her stories typically have what biographer Anne Heller described as "tight, elaborate, fast-paced plotting".[132]Romantic triangles are a common plot element in Rand's fiction; in most of her novels and plays, the main female character is romantically involved with at least two men.[133][134]
In school, Rand read works byFyodor Dostoevsky,Victor Hugo,Edmond Rostand, andFriedrich Schiller, who became her favorites.[135] She considered them to be among the "top rank" ofRomantic writers because of their focus on moral themes and their skill at constructing plots.[136] Hugo was an important influence on her writing, especially her approach to plotting. In the introduction she wrote for an English-language edition of his novelNinety-Three, Rand called him "the greatest novelist in world literature".[137]
Although Rand disliked most Russian literature, her depictions of her heroes show the influence of theRussian Symbolists[138] and other nineteenth-century Russian writing, most notably the 1863 novelWhat Is to Be Done? byNikolay Chernyshevsky.[139][140] Scholars of Russian literature see in Chernyshevsky's character Rakhmetov, an "ascetic revolutionist", the template for Rand's literary heroes and heroines.[141]
Rand's experience of the Russian Revolution and early Communist Russia influenced the portrayal of her villains. BeyondWe the Living, which is set in Russia, this influence can be seen in the ideas and rhetoric of Ellsworth Toohey inThe Fountainhead,[142] and in the destruction of the economy inAtlas Shrugged.[143][144]
Rand's descriptive style echoes her early career writing scenarios and scripts for movies; her novels have many narrative descriptions that resemble early Hollywood movie scenarios. They often follow common film editing conventions, such as having a broadestablishing shot description of a scene followed byclose-up details, and her descriptions of women characters often take a "male gaze" perspective.[145]
The first reviews Rand received were forNight of January 16th. Reviews of the Broadway production were largely positive, but Rand considered even positive reviews to be embarrassing because of significant changes made to her script by the producer.[146] Although Rand believed thatWe the Living was not widely reviewed, over 200 publications published approximately 125 different reviews. Overall, they were more positive than those she received for her later work.[147]Anthem received little review attention, both for its first publication in England and for subsequent re-issues.[148]
Rand's first bestseller,The Fountainhead, received far fewer reviews thanWe the Living, and reviewers' opinions were mixed.[149]Lorine Pruette's positive review inThe New York Times, which called the author "a writer of great power" who wrote "brilliantly, beautifully and bitterly",[150] was one that Rand greatly appreciated.[151] There were other positive reviews, but Rand dismissed most of them for either misunderstanding her message or for being in unimportant publications.[149] Some negative reviews said the novel was too long;[5] others called the characters unsympathetic and Rand's style "offensively pedestrian".[149]
Atlas Shrugged was widely reviewed, and many of the reviews were strongly negative.[5][152]Atlas Shrugged received positive reviews from a few publications;[152] however, Rand scholarMimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs", with reviews including comments that it was "written out of hate" and showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity".[5]Whittaker Chambers wrote what was later called the novel's most "notorious" review[153][154] for the conservative magazineNational Review. He accused Rand of supporting a godless system (which he related to that of theSoviets), claiming, "From almost any page ofAtlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard ... commanding: 'To a gas chamber—go!'".[155][l]
Rand's nonfiction received far fewer reviews than her novels. The tenor of the criticism for her first nonfiction book,For the New Intellectual, was similar to that forAtlas Shrugged.[158] PhilosopherSidney Hook likened her certainty to "the way philosophy is written in the Soviet Union",[159] and authorGore Vidal called her viewpoint "nearly perfect in its immorality".[160] These reviews set the pattern for reaction to her ideas amongliberal critics.[161] Her subsequent books got progressively less review attention.[158]
Academic consideration of Rand as a literary figure during her life was limited. Mimi Reisel Gladstein could not find any scholarly articles about Rand's novels when she began researching her in 1973, and only three such articles appeared during the rest of the 1970s.[162] Since her death, scholars of English and American literature have continued largely to ignore her work,[163] although attention to her literary work has increased since the 1990s.[164] Several academic book series about important authors cover Rand and her works,[m] as do popular study guides likeCliffsNotes andSparkNotes.[166] InThe Literary Encyclopedia entry for Rand written in 2001,John David Lewis declared that "Rand wrote the most intellectually challenging fiction of her generation."[167] In 2019,Lisa Duggan described Rand's fiction as popular and influential on many readers, despite being easy to criticize for "her cartoonish characters and melodramatic plots, her rigid moralizing, her middle- to lowbrow aesthetic preferences... and philosophical strivings".[168]
Rand called her philosophy "Objectivism", describing its essence as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute".[169] She considered Objectivism asystematic philosophy and laid out positions onmetaphysics,epistemology,ethics,aesthetics, andpolitical philosophy.[170]
Rand also related her aesthetics to metaphysics by defining art as a "selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments".[173] According to her, art allows philosophical concepts to be presented in a concrete form that can be grasped easily, thereby fulfilling a need of human consciousness.[174] As a writer, the art form Rand focused on most closely was literature. In works such asThe Romantic Manifesto andThe Art of Fiction, she describedRomanticism as the approach that most accurately reflects the existence of human free will.[175]
In epistemology, Rand considered all knowledge to be based on forming higher levels of understanding from sense perception, the validity of which she consideredaxiomatic.[176] She described reason as "the faculty that identifies and integrates the material provided by man's senses".[177] Rand rejected all claims of non-perceptual knowledge, including"'instinct,' 'intuition,' 'revelation,' or any form of 'just knowing'".[178] In herIntroduction to Objectivist Epistemology, Rand presented a theory of concept formation and rejected theanalytic–synthetic dichotomy.[179][180] She believed epistemology was a foundational branch of philosophy and considered the advocacy of reason to be the single most significant aspect of her philosophy.[181]
Commentators, includingHazel Barnes, Nathaniel Branden, andAlbert Ellis, have criticized Rand's focus on the importance of reason. Barnes and Ellis said Rand was too dismissive of emotion and failed to recognize its importance in human life. Branden said Rand's emphasis on reason led her to denigrate emotions and create unrealistic expectations of how consistently rational human beings should be.[182]
In ethics, Rand argued forrational andethical egoism (rational self-interest), as the guiding moral principle. She said the individual should "exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself".[183] Rand referred to egoism as "the virtue of selfishness" in herbook of that title.[184] In it, she presented her solution to theis–ought problem by describing ameta-ethical theory that based morality in the needs of "man's survivalqua man", which requires the use of a rational mind.[3] She condemned ethical altruism as incompatible with the requirements of human life and happiness,[3] and held theinitiation of force was evil and irrational,[185] writing inAtlas Shrugged that "Force and mind are opposites".[186]
Rand's ethics and politics are the most criticized areas of her philosophy.[187] Several authors, includingRobert Nozick and William F. O'Neill in two of the earliest academic critiques of her ideas,[188] said she failed in her attempt to solve the is–ought problem.[189] Critics have called her definitions ofegoism andaltruism biased and inconsistent with normal usage.[190] Critics from religious traditions oppose heratheism and her rejection of altruism.[191]
Rand's political philosophy emphasizedindividual rights, includingproperty rights. She consideredlaissez-fairecapitalism the only moral social system because in her view it was the only system based on protecting those rights.[192] Rand opposedcollectivism andstatism,[193] which she considered to include many specific forms of government, such ascommunism,fascism,socialism,theocracy, and thewelfare state.[194] Her preferred form of government was aconstitutional republic that is limited to the protection of individual rights.[195] Although her political views are often classified asconservative orlibertarian, Rand preferred the term "radical for capitalism". She worked with conservatives on political projects but disagreed with them over issues such as religion and ethics.[196][197] Rand rejectedanarchism as a naive theory based insubjectivism that would lead to collectivism in practice,[198] and denounced libertarianism, which she associated with anarchism.[199][200]
Several critics, including Nozick, have said her attempt to justify individual rights based on egoism fails.[201] Others, like libertarian philosopherMichael Huemer, have gone further, saying that her support of egoism and her support of individual rights are inconsistent positions.[202] Some critics, likeRoy Childs, have said that her opposition to the initiation of force should lead to support of anarchism, rather than limited government.[203][204]
Rand claimedAristotle (left) as her primary philosophical influence, and strongly criticizedImmanuel Kant (right).
Except for Aristotle,Thomas Aquinas andclassical liberals, Rand was sharply critical[205] of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her.[206][207] Acknowledging Aristotle as her greatest influence,[86] Rand remarked that in thehistory of philosophy she could only recommend "three A's"—Aristotle, Aquinas, and Ayn Rand.[207] In a 1959 interview withMike Wallace, when asked where her philosophy came from, she responded: "Out of my own mind, with the sole acknowledgement of a debt to Aristotle, the only philosopher who ever influenced me."[208]
In an article for theClaremont Review of Books, political scientistCharles Murray criticized Rand's claim that her only "philosophical debt" was to Aristotle. He asserted her ideas were derivative of previous thinkers such asJohn Locke andFriedrich Nietzsche.[209] Rand took early inspiration from Nietzsche,[210][211] and scholars have found indications of this in Rand's private journals. In 1928, she alluded to his idea of the "superman" in notes for an unwritten novel whose protagonist was inspired by the murdererWilliam Edward Hickman.[212]
There are other indications of Nietzsche's influence in passages from the first edition ofWe the Living, which Rand later revised,[213] and in her overall writing style.[3][214] By the time she wroteThe Fountainhead, Rand had turned against Nietzsche's ideas,[215][216] and the extent of his influence on her even during her early years is disputed.[217] Rand's views also may have been influenced by the promotion of egoism among theRussian nihilists, including Chernyshevsky andDmitry Pisarev,[218][219] although there is no direct evidence that she read them.[220][221]
Rand consideredImmanuel Kant her philosophical opposite and "the most evil man in mankind's history".[222] She believed his epistemology undermined reason and his ethics opposed self-interest.[223] Philosophers George Walsh and Fred Seddon have argued she misinterpreted Kant and exaggerated their differences.[224][225] She was critical ofPlato and viewed his differences with Aristotle on questions of metaphysics and epistemology as the primary conflict in the history of philosophy.[226]
Rand's relationship with contemporary philosophers was mostly antagonistic. She was not an academic and did not participate in academic discourse.[227][228] She was dismissive of critics and wrote about ideas she disagreed with in a polemical manner without in-depth analysis.[228][229] Academic philosophers viewed her negatively and dismissed her as an unimportant figure who should not be considered a philosopher, or given any serious response.[3][230][231]
During Rand's lifetime, her work received little attention from academic scholars.[232] In 1967,John Hospers discussed Rand's ethical ideas in the second edition of his textbook,An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. In 1967, Hazel Barnes included a chapter critiquing Objectivism in her bookAn Existentialist Ethics.[233] When the first full-length academic book about Rand's philosophy appeared in 1971, its author declared writing about Rand "a treacherous undertaking" that could lead to "guilt by association" for taking her seriously.[234]
A few articles about Rand's ideas appeared in academic journals before her death in 1982, many of them inThe Personalist.[235] One of these was "On the Randian Argument" by libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick, who criticized her meta-ethical arguments.[189] In the same journal, other philosophers argued that Nozick misstated Rand's case.[235] In an 1978 article responding to Nozick,Douglas Den Uyl andDouglas B. Rasmussen defended her positions, but described her style as "literary, hyperbolic and emotional".[236]
After her death, interest in Rand's ideas increased gradually.[237][238]The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand, a 1984 collection of essays about Objectivism edited by Den Uyl and Rasmussen, was the first academic book about Rand's ideas published after her death.[239] In one essay, political writer Jack Wheeler wrote that despite "the incessant bombast and continuous venting of Randian rage", Rand's ethics are "a most immense achievement, the study of which is vastly more fruitful than any other in contemporary thought".[240] In 1987, the Ayn Rand Society was founded as an affiliate of theAmerican Philosophical Association.[241]
In a 1995 entry about Rand inContemporary Women Philosophers, Jenny A. Heyl described a divergence in how different academic specialties viewed Rand. She said that Rand's philosophy "is regularly omitted from academic philosophy. Yet, throughout literary academia, Ayn Rand is considered a philosopher."[242] Writing in the 1998 edition of theRoutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, political theoristChandran Kukathas summarized the mainstream philosophical reception of her work in two parts. He said most commentators view her ethical argument as an unconvincing variant of Aristotle's ethics, and her political theory "is of little interest" because it is marred by an "ill-thought out and unsystematic" effort to reconcile her hostility to the state with her rejection of anarchism.[184] In 1999,The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, apeer-reviewed, multidisciplinaryacademic journal devoted to the study of Rand and her ideas, was established.[243]
In 2009, historian Jennifer Burns identified "an explosion of scholarship" about Rand since 2000,[244] although as of that year, few universities included Rand or Objectivism as a philosophical specialty or research area.[245] From 2002 to 2012, over 60 colleges and universities accepted grants from the charitable foundation ofBB&T that required teaching Rand's ideas or works. In some cases, the grants were controversial or even rejected because of the requirement to teach about Rand.[246][247]
In a 2010 essay for theCato Institute, Huemer argued very few people find Rand's ideas convincing, especially her ethics. He attributed the attention she receives to her being a "compelling writer", especially as a novelist.[248] In 2012, thePennsylvania State University Press agreed to take over publication ofThe Journal of Ayn Rand Studies,[249] and theUniversity of Pittsburgh Press launched an "Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies" series based on the Society's proceedings.[250] The Fall 2012 update to the entry about Rand in theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy said that "only a few professional philosophers have taken her work seriously".[3]
In 2012, political scientistAlan Wolfe dismissed Rand as a "nonperson" among academics, an attitude that writer Ben Murnane later described as "the traditional academic view" of Rand.[251] In a 2018 article forAeon, philosopher Skye C. Cleary wrote: "Philosophers love to hate Ayn Rand. It's trendy to scoff at any mention of her." However, Cleary said that because many people take Rand's ideas seriously, philosophers "need to treat the Ayn Rand phenomenon seriously" and provide refutations rather than ignoring her.[231]
in 2020, Media criticEric Burns said that "Rand is surely the most engaging philosopher of my lifetime",[252] but "nobody in the academe pays any attention to her, neither as an author nor a philosopher".[253] In 2020, the editor of a collection of critical essays about Rand said academics who disapproved of her ideas had long held "a stubborn resolve to ignore or ridicule" her work but that more were engaging with her work in recent years.[254] In 2023,The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies ceased publication.[255]
With over 37million copies sold as of 2020[update], Rand's books continue to be read widely.[256][d] In 1991, a survey conducted for theLibrary of Congress and theBook of the Month Club asked club members to name the most influential book in their lives. Rand'sAtlas Shrugged was the second most popular choice, after the Bible.[257] Although Rand's influence has been greatest in the United States, there has been international interest in her work.[n]
Television shows, movies, songs, and video games have referred to Rand and her works.[266][267] Throughout her life she was the subject of many articles in popular magazines,[268] as well as book-length critiques by authors such as the psychologist Albert Ellis[269] and Trinity Foundation president John W. Robbins.[239] Rand or characters based on her figure prominently in novels by American authors,[270] including Kay Nolte Smith,Mary Gaitskill,Matt Ruff, andTobias Wolff.[271]Nick Gillespie, former editor-in-chief ofReason, remarked: "Rand's is a tortured immortality, one in which she's as likely to be a punch line as a protagonist. Jibes at Rand as cold and inhuman run through the popular culture."[272]
Rand's works, most commonlyAnthem orThe Fountainhead, are sometimes assigned as secondary school reading.[276] Since 2002, the Ayn Rand Institute has provided free copies of Rand's novels to teachers who promise to include the books in their curriculum.[277] The Institute had distributed 4.5million copies in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2020.[4] In 2017, Rand was added to the required reading list for theA Level Politics exam in the United Kingdom.[278]
Although she rejected the labels "conservative" and "libertarian",[279][280] Rand has had a continuing influence onright-wing politics and libertarianism.[281][282] Rand is often considered one of the three most important women, along withRose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson, in the early development of modernAmerican libertarianism.[283][284]David Nolan, one founder of theLibertarian Party, said that "without Ayn Rand, the libertarian movement would not exist".[285] In his history of libertarianism, journalistBrian Doherty described her as "the most influential libertarian of the twentieth century to the public at large".[257] Political scientistAndrew Koppelman called her "the most widely read libertarian".[286] Historian Jennifer Burns referred to her as "the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right".[281]
The political figures who cite Rand as an influence are usually conservatives, often members of the Republican Party,[287] despite Rand taking some atypical positions for a conservative, like beingpro-choice and an atheist.[288] She faced intense opposition fromWilliam F. Buckley Jr. and other contributors to the conservativeNational Review magazine, which published numerous criticisms of her writings and ideas.[289] Nevertheless, a 1987 article inThe New York Times called her theReagan administration's "novelist laureate".[290] Republicancongressmen and conservative pundits have acknowledged her influence on their lives and have recommended her novels.[291][292][293] She has influenced some conservative politicians outside the U.S., such asSajid Javid in the United Kingdom,Siv Jensen in Norway, andAyelet Shaked in Israel.[294][295]
A protester's sign at a 2009Tea Party rally refers to John Galt, the hero of Rand'sAtlas Shrugged.
The2007–2008 financial crisis renewed interest in her works, especiallyAtlas Shrugged, which some saw as foreshadowing the crisis.[296][297] Opinion articles compared real-world events with the novel's plot.[287][298] Signs mentioning Rand and her fictional hero John Galt appeared atTea Party protests.[299][300] There was increased criticism of her ideas, especially from thepolitical left. Critics blamed theGreat Recession on her support ofselfishness andfree markets, particularly through her influence on Alan Greenspan.[293]
In 2015, Adam Weiner said that through Greenspan, "Rand had effectively chucked a ticking time bomb into the boiler room of the US economy".[301] In 2019, Lisa Duggan said that Rand's novels had "incalculable impact" in encouraging the spread ofneoliberal political ideas.[302] In 2021,Cass Sunstein said Rand's ideas could be seen in the tax and regulatory policies of theTrump administration, which he attributed to the "enduring influence" of Rand's fiction.[303]
After the closure of the Nathaniel Branden Institute, the Objectivist movement continued in other forms. In the 1970s, Peikoff began delivering courses on Objectivism.[304] In 1979,Peter Schwartz started a newsletter calledThe Intellectual Activist, which Rand endorsed.[305][115] She also endorsedThe Objectivist Forum, a bimonthly magazine founded by Objectivist philosopherHarry Binswanger, which ran from 1980 to 1987.[306]
In 1985, Peikoff worked with businessman Ed Snider to establish theAyn Rand Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Rand's ideas and works. In 1990, after an ideological disagreement with Peikoff, David Kelley founded the Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known asThe Atlas Society.[307][308] In 2001, historian John P. McCaskey organized the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, which provides grants for scholarly work on Objectivism in academia.[309]
^abRand's husband, Charles Francis O'Connor (1897–1979),[1] is not to be confused with the actor and directorFrank O'Connor (1881–1959) or the writer whose pen name wasFrank O'Connor.
^abThis total includes 4.5million copies purchased for free distribution to schools by theAyn Rand Institute (ARI).[4]
^The city was renamedPetrograd from the GermanicSaint Petersburg in 1914 because Russia was at war with Germany. In 1924 it was renamedLeningrad. The nameSaint Petersburg was restored in 1991.[12]
^She may have takenRand as her surname because it is graphically similar to a vowelless excerptРзнб of her birth surnameРозенбаум inCyrillic.[22][23] Rand saidAyn was adapted from aFinnish name.[24] Some biographical sources question this, suggesting it may come from a nickname based on the Hebrew wordעין (ayin, meaning 'eye').[25] Letters from Rand's family do not use such a nickname.[26]
^Rand's immigration papersanglicized her given name asAlice;[28] her legal married name becameAlice O'Connor, but she did not use that name publicly or with friends.[34][35]
^It was later published inThe Early Ayn Rand along with other screenplays, plays, and short stories that were not produced or published during her lifetime.[40]
^In 1942, the novel was adapted without permission into a pair of Italian films,Noi vivi andAddio, Kira. After Rand's post-war legal claims over the piracy were settled, the films were re-edited with her approval and released asWe the Living in 1986.[49]
^Their friendship ended in 1948 after Paterson made what Rand considered rude comments to valued political allies.[61][62]
^Although she was previously friendly withNational Review editorWilliam F. Buckley Jr., Rand cut off all contact with him after the review was published.[156] Historian Jennifer Burns describes the review as a break between Buckley's religious conservatism and non-religious libertarianism.[157]
^These include Twayne's United States Authors (Ayn Rand by James T. Baker), Twayne's Masterwork Studies (The Fountainhead: An American Novel by Den Uyl andAtlas Shrugged: Manifesto of the Mind by Gladstein), and Re-reading the Canon (Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, edited by Gladstein and Sciabarra).[165]
^Countries mentioned by sources discussing such interest include Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Israel, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[258][259][260]
^Lewis, John David & Salmieri, Gregory. "A Philosopher on Her Times: Ayn Rand's Political and Cultural Commentary". InGotthelf & Salmieri 2016, p. 353.
^Ghate, Onkar."'A Free Mind and a Free Market Are Corollaries': Rand's Philosophical Perspective on Capitalism". InGotthelf & Salmieri 2016, p. 233.
Brühwiler, Claudia Franziska (2021).Out of a Gray Fog: Ayn Rand's Europe. Politics, Literature & Film (Kindle ed.). Lanham, Maryland:Lexington Books.ISBN978-1-79363-686-7.
Cocks, Neil, ed. (2020).Questioning Ayn Rand: Subjectivity, Political Economy, and the Arts. Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Economics (Kindle ed.). Cham, Switzerland:Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-3-030-53072-3.
Heyl, Jenny A. (1995). "Ayn Rand (1905–1982)". In Waithe, Mary Ellen (ed.).A History of Women Philosophers: Contemporary Women Philosophers, 1900–Today. Vol. 4. Boston:Kluwer Academic. pp. 207–224.ISBN978-0-7923-2807-0.
Offord, Derek (2022).Ayn Rand and the Russian Intelligentsia: The Origins of an Icon of the American Right. Russian Shorts (Kindle ed.). London:Bloomsbury Academic.ISBN978-1-3502-8393-0.
Salmieri, Gregory & Mayhew, Robert, eds. (2019).Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand's Political Philosophy. Ayn Rand Society Philosophical Studies. Pittsburgh:University of Pittsburgh Press.ISBN978-0-8229-4548-2.
Sciabarra, Chris Matthew (Fall 1999). "The Rand Transcript".The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies.1 (1):1–26.JSTOR41560109.
Younkins, Edward W., ed. (2007).Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion. Burlington, Vermont:Ashgate Publishing.ISBN978-0-7546-5533-6.
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